Sire
by IWillBelieveIt
Summary: Zoe London is now just like Dan. A vampire. As Dan helps her adjust to this harsh new reality, Aneisha continues to strengthen her powers. She still wants William dead, but he seems to have a hold on Zoe that none of them can understand. What kind of hold does he have on her and just how much of it is effecting her transition from human to vampire?
1. Chapter 1

Dan sat on the living room floor, a blood bag beside him as he watched the lifeless form on the couch. It had been a few hours since William had snapped Zoe's neck in that classroom at St Heart's and they roughly an hour before midnight. Dan, along with Tom and Aneisha, was sitting in the Morgan's living room, where they'd been since he'd carried Zoe in from the car. As they'd left the school, they'd seen no sign of William or Matthew, although there was spots of blood on the pavement from where Tom had stabbed him.

"You two need to go." Dan said without looking away from Zoe's still form.

"No, I'm not leaving her." Aneisha said. "I want to be here when she wakes up."

"That is a very, very bad idea." Dan said. Aneisha stared at him. It was creepy, how still he was.

"Dan's right, Neish." Tom said. "I've seen enough vampire movies to know that when a vampire wakes up, they wake up hungry. And then it doesn't matter. What we are then is a walking, talking blood bag."

"So?"

"What do you think it will do to her if she even gets close to hurting one of us?" Tom asked.

Aneisha sighed. "Fine. But Dan, when she wakes up, can you - "

"I'll text you." Dan said. "Now go."

Reluctantly, both teens got up and walked out. Dan continued to watch Zoe's unmoving body, wondering how he'd let everything slip away. He'd been so sure that Zoe would live out the rest of her days as a human but now she would spend them as a vampire.

Dan's keen senses caught the movement of Zoe's fingers as they slowly curled slightly. Then she shot up into sitting position, gasping wildly, as if she physically couldn't breathe. Dan picked up the blood bag and threw it to her, not bothering to aim. Zoe's hand swung out to the side and she easily caught it, bringing the bag to her. She ripped open the bag and then lifted it to her mouth and started to drink.

Dan watched sadly as Zoe emptied the bag and then opened her eyes. Dan could see the veins that snaked across her temples and neck and he couldn't distinguish her pupils from her irises. If there was any doubt before, it was demolished now.

Zoe was a vampire.

Zoe whimpered and dropped the bag, drawing up her legs to her chest. She stared at nothing for a long time before awareness crept back into her expression and she looked at Dan. "I'm dead. He fed me his blood and then he snapped my neck and he . . . he killed me, Dan!"

Suddenly Dan was beside her, taking her into his arms as tears ran down Zoe's cheeks and she started sobbing uncontrollably. Zoe gripping the front of Dan's shirt so tightly that her thumbs punched holes in the material of his shirt, but Dan didn't mind. He just held her and let her cry into his shirt as he rested his head on top of hers.

* * *

Aneisha was silent the whole way home and when she and Tom walked over the threshold into her house, she looked close to tears.

"Neish - " Tom started.

Aneisha simply shook her head as tears welled in her eyes. "It's not meant to be like this, I swear."

She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, pushing black hair out of her face. Tom leaned against the doorframe, watching her with worried brown eyes. Slowly, Aneisha's head turned towards him so that her eyes met his. THen she let out a sob and Tom walked over to her, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Aneisha rested her head on Tom's shoulder as Tom started running his fingers through her hair gently.

"It's not meant to be like this." Aneisha said, lifting her head from Tom's shoulder. "Dan's a vampire. Zoe is the the one thing that none of us wanted her to be. She's a vampire. I'm a . . . Sorceress and you've somehow got sucked into all our problems."

"Zoe got sucked into it too." Tom said quietly. "And neither you or Dan asked for this."

"I understand _how_ Zoe got sucked into all this. She's in love with Dan and she can't keep away from him because of it." Aneisha said. "I just don't understand how you got dragged into this."

She touched the back of his hand lightly, her fingers tracing the tattoo that marked him as her protector. Tom glanced at her and saw how badly she was taking this - she was drowning in her own guilt.

"I'm supposed to protect the whole world from rogue vampires." Aneisha said, as if she'd read his mind. "And i can't even protect my best friend from being turned into a vampire. And I don't even know if when she wakes up she'll still be my best friend, Tom! What if she's some souless, bloodsucking monster who just looks like Zoe?"

"Dan's a vampire and he's not a monster."

"Yeah, but Dan's a born vampire. His parents are Old Ones. The only vampires we've ever met are Old Ones and Dan. Tom, we've never come into contact with a made vampire. What if Zoe turns out to be one of these vampires whose completely out of control and I have to kill her?"

Tom took her face in his hands, staring deep into her brown eyes. "You won't. You won't have to kill Zoe. Dan will look after her, teach her how to feed off of animals, how to control the Thirst. She'll be the same old Zoe we all know and love."

Aneisha shook her head. "She won't be the same, Tom. Because she's dead."

Tom had nothing to say to that. So he did the only thing he could think of - he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Aneisha sobbed as she wrapped her arms around his waist, but she couldn't help noticing that he had filled out since he'd been chosen. She could feel the firm muscles of his stomach and chest pressed against her and his arms were muscular as they held her close. Remembering what Dan had told them about the Sorceress and Warrior being lovers and then what it had felt like to kiss Tom, she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

* * *

Still sobbing, Zoe pushed up the right sleeve of her jacket, revealing smooth, pale, completely unmarked skin. This made her sobs come harder as she let go of her jacket, leaning into Dan.

"It's gone." Zoe whimpered as Dan's arm tightened around her shaking body. Immediately, Dan knew exactly what she was talking about. The code that used to mark her arm, the very code that identified her as one of the Mastermind clones, was gone.

Eventually, Zoe fell asleep. Dan, worried and drowning in guilt, gently carried her to his bed before he pulled out his phone and dialled Aneisha's number.

"How is she? Is she awake? Did she feed? Has she - "

"Neish, wait." Dan said. "One question at a time. First, yes she was awake. She fed and she's just fallen back to sleep."

"How'd she handle it?" Aneisha asked quietly.

"Not well." Dan replied. "It got really bad when she found out she'd lost her mark."

"Her mark? You mean the V.9.5.Z.O.E.6? But she hated that thing."

Dan shrugged. "I think that after she found out about all of this it became less of a reminder of what she was a more of a reminder of what she wasn't."

"That she wasn't a vampire?" Aneisha asked.

"Yeah. I don't know how long it's going to be until she adjusts to what she is - it's different for everyone. But I'll take her out to feed when it gets dark and we'll go from there."

"Okay. Good luck."

Dan grunted a response before he hung up, placing his phone on the bedside table. He knelt down beside the bed and brushed Zoe's hair from her cheek, exposing her delicate features. He sighed, sitting back as he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Zoe. I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

He stayed like that until he was enveloped in darkness and Zoe woke, sitting up and looking around. Her eyes met his in the dark and Zoe was surprised - only twenty-four hours ago, everything would have appeared black to her. Now she could see everything as though it were daylight.

"Dan?" Zoe asked.

"Hungry?" Dan asked. Zoe nodded, but she knew that normal food would do nothing to staisfy the bloodthirsty monster inside of her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my God, guys, you are incredible! I couldn't believe it when I opened up my account, probably no less than twelve hours after I posted the first chapter and saw _twelve reviews! _I love you guys!**

* * *

As soon as they were in the forest, Zoe stopped, closing her eyes and breathing in slowly through her nose. Dan watched as a stark network of veins appeared at Zoe's temples; and when she opened her eyes, they weren't a pretty green anymore. No, her irises were completely undistinguishable from her pupils, because both were black. Without so much of a glance towards Dan, she took off in pursuit of some animal, just a blur off red in between the trees. She was moving so fast as a result of her ignorance to her own strength that if Dan had been human, he wouldn't have been able to see her.

He could easily have followed her on the ground, could easily have caught up with her. Instead, he decided against it and scrambled up the nearest tree trunk and began following her by the trees.

Zoe almost slammed into a tree when she stopped, but thankfully she didn't as she caught sight of whatever it was she was hunting - she could now see that it was a small rabbit, with white that looked as soft as down. She could hear its heart pumping blood through its arteries, could smell the blood as it moved through the animal. Without even realising it, the way she held herself changed. Her stance became one worthy of a hunter, a predator. Someone designed to kill.

The rabbit had never stood a chance against her.

Before the animal could even blink Zoe was on top of it, pushing it into the ground. Zoe barely heard the sound of bones cracking as she picked up the helpless animal and sank her teeth into the rabbit's flesh.

Above her, Dan winced as his perfect hearing heard the unmistakable sound of the rabbit's spine breaking. He couldn't help feeling awed as he watched her feed on the animal. How was it possible that even as a bloodsucking monster, she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever come across?

Zoe dropped the rabbit, its heart now stilled, onto the grass she was sitting on. The bloodthirsty monster inside of her now satisfied, it shrunk back into the shadows, taking her fangs, the dark veins and those eyes with it, leaving her eyes once again green. She stood, reveling in the sensation of having _alive_ blood in her system, before she looked down and really took in the enormity of what she'd done. It came in the form of a dead rabbit lying at her feet.

Zoe let out a sob. The rabbit's fur wasn't white anymore. It was stained with its own blood and there looked to be a handprint of blood on its side.

"Dan." She whispered, her hand covering her mouth. When the blonde didn't appear, she looked around in alarm. "Dan!"

Suddenly Dan dropped down in front of her, landing between her and the rabbit. His blue eyes were worried and he stepped forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Zoe. Zoe whimpered and rested her head against his shoulder, unable to stop herself from staring over his shoulder at the ball of fluff behind him.

"Dan," Zoe whimpered again, closing her eyes and burying her face in his neck. "I killed Flopsy. Oh God, I killed _Flopsy._"

Dan drew back from her, kneeling down and gingerly turning the rabbit over. His eyes scanned the small animal's body, searching for a feature that distinguished it from Flopsy. Then he found it – a small black patch of fur on the rabbit's throat, something that Flopsy didn't have.

"Zo." Dan said, reaching out for her with one hand. Trembling a little, Zoe moved over to Dan, her fingers clutching his as she knelt down beside him, barely able to hold back her tears. Dan brushed his fingers over the patch on the rabbit's throat and turned to look at Zoe. "See? Flopsy doesn't have that. You didn't kill him. He's okay."

Zoe took a long, shuddering breath of relief. She hadn't killed Flopsy. He was okay.

"How's your Thirst?" Dan asked, helping Zoe to her feet. Zoe searched within herself for the Thirst, for the little monster that lived inside her now. Just as she found it – subdued for the moment, she smelled something. Even to her, it smelled sweet and it sung of life, just begging to be drained. It was human.

Without even thinking twice about it, Zoe tore off into the forest, towards the smell of bleeding humans.

"Zoe!" Dan shouted, tearing off after her, his more acute senses finding her more quickly then she would have found the humans, had she not had her head start. Dan found her not draining some poor human, but instead clinging to the trunk of a tree, complete with evidence of a renewed bloodlust, as she stared down below them. They were on the edge of the forest now – with only a downhill slope between them and three human boys on the road below. They had skateboards and looked to be about nineteen – one was sitting on his as he patched up his scraped knee. What was off-putting to Dan – and what was probably the only reason Zoe was able to hang onto her control as much as she was – was the distinct smell of alcohol in the guy's blood. Vampires, like humans, enjoyed alcohol. Vampires, unlike humans, needed blood. Drinking blood from an intoxicated human – whether it be drugs or alcohol – had made some vampires sick.

With that fact still in mind, Zoe was still having a hard time controlling the Thirst as she clung to the tree. No matter how many chains, how much strength she used to push it back, it seemed to keep coming at her, stronger and more bloodthirsty than before.

"Zoe." Dan said. He moved towards her and put one hand on her waist, the other finding her hands. He pulled her away from the tree and into his side, where she clung to him instead.

"Dan . . ." She whimpered. "The blood . . ."

"I know, Zo." Dan breathed. "I know."

"It wants to hurt them." Zoe continued. "It wants to kill them, to drain their blood, to taste it, to . . . to hear their hearts stop."

"Just breathe through your mouth." Dan told her. "Breathe slowly and push it back. It doesn't control you. You control it."

Zoe, gripping Dan's shoulder to fiercely that he could feel blood seeping onto his shirt, took a deep breath and closed her eyes, imagining the Thirst being bound with chains so that it didn't have any hold on her. Then, slowly, the Thirst became subdued again, shrinking back within her.

Dan didn't have to see the veins on Zoe's temples receding to know that the immediate threat of her Thirst was gone – all the tension left her muscles and she sagged against him, suddenly exhausted. Dan tightened his grip on Zoe's waist and then turned her away from the three drunk guys, leading her back through the forest.

"What happened to Matthew?" Zoe asked after a long while of silence.

Dan shrugged. "Don't know. Don't really care. Tom stabbed him and then he took off."

"_Tom stabbed him?" _Zoe cried.

"He'd been compelled, Zo. There was no way we could make him do anything that he'd do."

"But you're still holding it against him." Zoe said.

"He's a werewolf." Dan replied. "He supposed to have a natural resistance to it."

"So he's weak-willed?" Zoe asked.

"He's not weak-willed." Dan said. "He just refuses to develop the skills that come with being a werewolf."

"So he doesn't like being one." Zoe said. "How is that any different to you not wanting to be a vampire?"

"Because I know my limitations. I know how far I can stretch my control, how long I can go without feeding. Matthew doesn't. He can't control his anger. He almost got his teeth into me once when he lost his temper. He's never even _tried_ to resist compulsion, so he doesn't know _how_ to resist it. I should have kept him away from you. I knew he wouldn't be able to resist compulsion, but I still asked him to help because I –"

He broke off as Zoe grabbed his arm and stopped, making him face her.

"Dan, none of this is your fault. I should have known that something was off about Matthew, but I didn't. I should have found some way around drinking William's blood, but I didn't. But it is what it is and this is what I am. We can't change it and we can't fix it. So we just have to deal with it."

Dan tucked a strand of hair behind Zoe's ear, resting his hand on her cheek. "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"I know you are." Zoe said, leaning her face into his hand. "But it is what it is. But maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe William's done us a favour."

Dan pursed his lips. "How the _hell _would he have done us a favour? He's a selfish, insane lunatic who deserves – "

"Because he's stripped me of having to make this choice myself." Zoe said calmly.

"That's it." Dan argued. "It was supposed to be _your _choice, not his. Making you a vampire was something that you and I were supposed to do when _you were ready _and when you'd considered both options and made a choice on it. And it was supposed to be _me _that did it, not my deranged uncle."

"Dan." Zoe sighed, gripping his wrists with her hands. She started to say something, but then she heard a sound like bacon sizzling and then she felt the back of her right hand start to burn. Zoe cried out, stepping away from Dan and gripping her hand as the burning sensation travelled to anyplace that skin wasn't covered. Dan looked up in alarm to see the sun starting to rise.

"The sun." Dan said, glancing at Zoe. He grabbed Zoe's wrist and they ran back to the house through the forest, moving so fast that they wouldn't have even been visible to the naked human eye – all the human would have heard was a rustling of trees. Zoe didn't even bother waiting for Dan when she reached his bedroom window – she just wrenched it open and tumbled through, collapsing on Dan's bed with her back against the covers as Dan clambered through after her, slamming the window shut after him and then yanking the curtain across. Then he turned to look at Zoe, lying on his bed and breathing heavily as the burns on her skin healed. When her skin was perfect and flawless again, her eyes met Dan's as she struggled to sit up.

"Oh, great." Zoe groaned, closing her eyes and resting her head against the headboard. Without a word, Dan walked out and when he came back, he was holding a glass of blood. Zoe looked worried, but she took the glass without a word and lifted it to her lips. Dan sat on the end of the bed as Zoe drained the blood in the glass and then set it on the bedside table, looking unsure of what to do with herself.

"Zo." Dan said softly, reaching out and touching her arm. Zoe's eyes met his and Dan gave her a small smile. "I'm going to call Neish. She can charm a piece of jewelry so that you can withstand the sunlight."

Zoe nodded and settled back against the pillows, closing her eyes. Dan leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead before he got up, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing Aneisha's number.


	3. Chapter 3

When Aneisha shoved her phone back into her pocket, her eyes met Tom's worried ones.

"What's happening?" Tom asked from his spot on the couch, playing with a Warrior's knife. The sight creeped Aneisha out a little – he was sweet, insecure, techie Tom, who (literally) couldn't throw a punch to save his life. Now she'd seen him _stab _someone.

"Dan took Zoe out to feed and she barely made it back." Aneisha told him, sitting down.

"So? Dan walks out in the sun all the time." Tom said. "He has no issues."

"Yeah, but Dan's _Offspring_." Aneisha said. "Zoe's just a normal vampire. A vampire with a direct bloodline to an Old One, but normal none the less. If she stays out for very long, the sun will kill her. Dan wants me to bless a piece of jewellery for her to wear – it'll act like a talisman that'll protect her."

"Are you going to do it?" Tom asked.

Aneisha looked up at him as if he'd asked a stupid question. "Of course I am, Tom. She may be a vampire, but she's still my best friend."

* * *

Aneisha didn't even bother knocking, she just walked into the Morgan household, her eyes eagerly scanning for her best friend. When she saw Zoe, she barely even recognised her - Zoe looked as if she'd matured. Her curves, particularly around her hips, were more prominent. Suddenly tears were clouding Aneisha's vision and without even thinking about it, she launched herself across the room and pulled Zoe into a hug. Zoe wrapped her arms around Aneisha as the shorter girl sobbed into her shoulder. And even though she'd only fed an hour ago, Zoe could feel the Thirst stirring again at the scent of human blood. Zoe could feel her temples practically burning as the veins appeared on the sides of her head. She glanced wildly over Aneisha's shoulder, her frantically searching for Dan. Then she found him, standing beside Tom.

"Just breathe." Dan mouthed. Zoe nodded and then took a deep breath, through her mouth before she stepped back, looking apologetically at Aneisha.

"What – the blood." Aneisha said. Zoe nodded miserably.

Aneisha bit her lip and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's get this talisman made."

She eyed the necklace hanging from Zoe's neck and laid out her hand, palm facing the ceiling. Suddenly the necklace was gone from Zoe's neck and was in Aneisha's palm.

"You're getting stronger." Dan said from behind her. Aneisha didn't reply. Instead, she took Zoe's hand and led her into Dan's bedroom and sat her down on the bed. As Aneisha held Zoe's hand with one of her own and the Morgan crest in the other, Dan and Tom walked in after them, leaning against the wall and crossing their arms over their chests.

Aneisha closed her eyes, focusing on Zoe's aura. She imagined her best friend lying in a meadow in the sunlight. Then, gathering all the energy and power she could muster, Aneisha sent her blessing for Zoe to walk in the sunlight into the necklace.

Gasping, Aneisha offered the talisman to Zoe. "It's done."

"Are you okay?" Zoe asked, her hand closing around the necklace.

"I'm fine." Aneisha said as Tom moved to her side, his hand on her arm. Zoe paid no attention to them as Tom fussed over Aneisha – she put the necklace on and moved over to the window, pushing the curtain aside and slowly putting her arm into the light. She watched in fascination as the light hit her pale skin, half expecting her skin to start shimmering like diamonds.

"I'm so sorry, Zoe."

Zoe looked up at the sound of Katarina Morgan's voice, her expression softening as she saw the Old One's apologetic expression. "It's okay, Katarina. Matthew took us all by surprise."

Without a word, Dan slammed the door shut in Katarina's face. When he turned back around, his blue eyes were blazing. Zoe stepped back and Tom's muscles tensed for a fight, angling his body so that he was standing protectively in front of Aneisha. "It is _not _okay. Zoe, you're a _vampire _because she couldn't react quick enough."

Zoe looked down, her hand moving up to play with her necklace which now protected her from the sun. She could feel her Thirst awakening again, slowly increasing in its intensity.

Zoe looked up at Dan again and immediately, he knew what was happening to her. She needed to get out of there _now, _before it became too much and she hurt Tom or Aneisha. Or, more accurately, she hurt Aneisha and Tom tore her limb from limb.

"Zoe, out." Dan commanded and Zoe obediently opened the window and slipped out.

"Where are you going?" Aneisha asked as Dan moved towards the window after her, looking over his shoulder at the sound of Aneisha's voice.

"For the first few days, the Thirst can come up almost out of nowhere." Dan said.

"What's that – _oh." _

Dan nodded and then slipped soundlessly out of the window, leaving Tom and Aneisha in his room.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked, flopping down beside her on the bed. He noticed that Aneisha looked tired – the kind of tired where you felt like you could sleep for a thousand years.

"Yeah. Apparently blessing a necklace so that your vampiric best friend can walk in the sun takes a lot out of you." She sighed, pushing her hair back from her face. "I can't believe that Zoe's a vampire. I mean, Dan emphasised on it so much, that William wanted to Turn her, but . . . I guess I always thought we'd get to him in time. That I'd get to see him burn and then when I got home, I'd hug Zoe and then I'd set to work on how to make Dan human."

Tom kissed the side of her head. "Making Dan human, huh? That's quite a feat."

"He doesn't deserve this life any more than Zoe does." Aneisha said quietly.

Tom sighed. "Here, give me your hands."

Confused into silence, Aneisha slipped her hands into his, loving the way her skin felt against his. She watched as he closed his eyes and concentrated.

Not too long after, she felt the tips of her fingers tingle and Tom opened his eyes. He looked a little tired, but she now felt completely refreshed.

"Tom . . ." She said, a little shakily. "What did you do?"

"Not much." Tom told her. "I was reading up on the Warrior the other day. Their job isn't just to protect the Sorceress from those who want to kill her. The Warrior also gives the Sorceress some of his strength after she does her . . . Sorceress-type things."

Aneisha laughed. "It _did not _say that in one of Ezekiel Morgan's books."

Tom grinned at her. "You're right, it didn't."

Aneisha looked up at him as he settled beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist. "But Tom, seriously, we can't do that _every time_. You're going to hurt yourself."

"Don't worry about me, Neish. I'm the Warrior – I naturally heal almost as fast as Dan and Zoe do."

Aneisha swallowed past the lump in her throat at the mention that Zoe would now heal in seconds flat, but she felt Tom's arm tighten around her and she rested her head on his chest.

* * *

Dan didn't bother with running among the treetops this time. Instead, he ran alongside Zoe as she caught the scent of a fox and then started darting between the trees after it. Dan followed, moving with ease that had come from navigating this very forest on hunts of his own.

He watched with satisfaction as Zoe pounced on the fox, shoving it into the ground and snapping its spine. Dan noticed that she was quite effective in her hunting, but it worried him for some reason. She shouldn't have been this good so soon. It should have taken her a few days to figure it out. Maybe when William had changed her, maybe he'd . . .

Dan forced himself to stop, before he could consider the only possibility that could make this nightmare any worse. If he'd allowed that to happen to her . . . he'd spend the rest of eternity trying to make up for it.

When Zoe was done, she dug a hole and placed the fox's body in it before covering its body and writing '_R.I.P' _in the dirt with her finger. She stood up and looked around, noticing Dan standing nearby, leaning against the tree. She started to smile, but then the action was lost.

Immediately, Dan turned, his blue eyes darting around frantically. Zoe was tensed for a fight and she too was glancing around. She hoped it wasn't William who was coming – she didn't think she could deal with him in her current state.

Before either of them knew what was happening, Dan was thrown to the ground and Zoe found herself staring up into the face of William.


	4. Chapter 4

**Guys, I swear, when I write, I don't _mean _to put cliffhangers in! They just kind of happen! I know I'm a terrible person! I'm sorry!**

* * *

Zoe had the immediate reaction that included the impulse to take a step back, but she fought against it. She was a vampire now and she wasn't afraid of him.

"What do you want?" Zoe asked boldly, glaring up at William.

"To see how you're doing, of course." William replied, smiling. He reached out to touch Zoe's cheek but she slapped his hand away and tried to move towards Dan, but William grabbed her and flung into a tree.

"Zoe!" Dan shouted as he got up and stumbled over to her as William disappeared. Zoe let Dan haul her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her. Zoe sighed and pressed her face into his shoulder, trying not to focus on the way a part of her had wanted to do whatever William asked.

* * *

When Dan and Zoe got back, the first thing Aneisha noticed was the upset look in Zoe's eyes.

"What happened?" Aneisha asked, refraining from hugging Zoe, as much as she wanted to.

"William happened." Dan replied, pulling the window shut. No one said anything as Zoe slowly calmed and then asked, "What do we do now?"

"We keep working to kill William." Dan replied. "Neish and I will keep working to get her stronger. Tom will keep training."

"What about me?" Zoe asked.

Dan sighed. "I take it you want to get back to school as soon as possible?"

Zoe nodded.

"Well, then. You and I, over the next few days, are going to work on getting your Thirst under control so you can get back."

* * *

"Okay. Close your eyes and tell me what you hear." Dan said softly, watching Zoe from against a nearby tree. It was a few days after Zoe had awoken as a vampire and Dan, although worried by how easily that transition had been for her thus far, he was impressed by it.

Zoe let her eyes flutter closed as she listened, hearing the birds chirping, a rabbit digging a hole. Smiling, Zoe dipped her head back, letting the sun hit her skin, warming her face as Dan silently moved up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Immediately, Zoe stopped focusing on the sounds around her and turned her attention to the way Dan's hands felt through the thin fabric of her shirt. Zoe's breath caught in her throat – it didn't feel like he was just touching her skin, it felt like he was touching every nerve, every cell.

"What do you hear?" Dan asked softly, knowing full well what the effect he had on her was. Instead of answering, Zoe made a small whimpering sound and rested her head against his shoulder, sighing happily when he tightened his hold on her.

Dan pressed a kiss to her shoulder and lowered his voice. "Can you feel it? When you're new, every sense, every feeling, is intensified."

Even as he spoke, his hand slipped under the hem of Zoe's shirt, his palm resting against her bare skin. Zoe suddenly had the burning desire to kiss him.

Moving so fast that she surprised herself, Zoe turned and pushed Dan into a nearby tree and pressed her mouth roughly against his. Dan eagerly kissed her back, his arms holding her tighter than he ever would have dared had she still been human.

Dan's mouth moved to Zoe's neck and she gasped, her hands gripping his back as his mouth found her's again.

* * *

Only a day later, Zoe returned to school. For the first part of the day, she didn't have any problems with her control, until she found herself in English. Obviously, the girl behind her was on her period, because all Zoe could smell was blood.

Dan, meanwhile, was glancing around furiously, desperately trying to come up with a way to get Zoe out of there before she turned around and sunk her teeth into the girl's neck.

"Dan." Zoe whimpered, so quiet that only Dan heard her. "Dan, the blood . . ."

"I know, I know." Dan whispered back. "I'm so sorry, Zo. I'm so, so sorry. Let me try and get you out of here."

"Hurry." Zoe whimpered, barely holding onto her control.

Dan looked around desperately, trying to think of an escape. Then, he found one.

His hand shot into the air, disturbing the otherwise quiet class. "Sir? I just remembered, Zoe and I said we'd go help Mr London for a bit."

Mr McNab sighed and waved them off. "Fine, if you must."

Dan gathered up his books and then stood, pulling Zoe to her feet as he passed her table.

Dan took Zoe down to HQ and as soon as she stumbled out of the lift, Zoe sank to the floor, her body shaking with violent sobs. Dan knelt down in front of her and she shook her auburn hair out of her eyes. "I can't do this, Dan. I can't – I could _hear _them. I could _smell _her. Dan, I shouldn't be able to smell that! It's wrong and I can't do this. I can't – be like this."

"Yes, yes you can." Dan said, placing his hand on her cheek, which was wet with tears. "Do you know why?"

"Why?" Zoe sniffed, looking up at him.

"Because you're the strongest person I know." Dan said. "If anyone can handle being like this, you can. _I know _you can do this."

Zoe nodded once as he rested his forehead against hers. "Okay?"

Zoe nodded feebly and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck. "I'm scared, Dan. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You won't." Dan told her, rubbing her arm. "You'll be okay, Zoe. I promise."

Zoe nodded against his shoulder, blinking tears away. "I love you, Dan."

"I love you too." Dan whispered, kissing her gently. When she drew back, her whole body went rigid.

"Dan." Zoe whispered, feeling her bloodlust stirring. "There's someone else here."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I know this is what a lot of you have been waiting for - Frank finding out about Dan and everything else that's been going on. I'm really hoping that this doesn't disappoint and I have a little announcement to make. On my story 'Family Ties' I had at least two people mention about me doing a sequel. Originally, 'Family Ties' was meant to be a stand alone story, but after much consideration and discussion with my good friend Zoelook-a-like, I have decided that I am going to do one. It's going to be called 'Family Treachery' and the summary for it is already up in my bio. It's going to have more secrets, more lies, and _again, _events the team never saw coming are going to make Dan question everything he thought he knew about himself, about MI9, and about KORPS.**

* * *

"Frank!" Dan yelled jumping to his feet and turning, leaving Zoe crouched behind him while she struggled to get her Thirst under control.

"Frank, stop hiding!" Dan yelled. "I know you're in here. I can hear your breathing."

Frank walked out, his blue eyes hard with determination. "Who are you and what have you done with Dan and Zoe?"

"We are Dan and Zoe." Dan said quietly. "Sit down and we'll explain everything."

Frank started to say something, but then he noticed that Zoe was still crouched just behind Dan. He did a double take when he saw her face – prominent, dark-blue veins on her temples and neck and obsidian black eyes.

"That – that's not normal." He turned on Dan. "What did you do to her?"

"I haven't done anything to her." Dan told him as Zoe managed to force the Thirst back and got to her feet, watching Frank sadly and warily.

"So who did it to her?" Frank asked. "What does it even mean?"

"What do you believe in?" Dan asked. "God, dragons, werewolves? What about vampires?"

"Wait. Are you . . . are you trying to tell me you're vampires?"

Dan nodded slowly. "My parents are what are known as Old Ones – they have been vampires since roughly the middle ages. I'm what's called an Offspring – the child of two Old Ones."

Frank nodded towards Zoe. "So how did she become a vampire?"

"Dan's uncle Turned me." Zoe said quietly.

Frank glanced between them wildly. "What – why would he do that?"

"Because I don't feed on humans." Dan said. "As an Offspring, my Thirst for blood is stronger than most and it's harder to control myself when I'm drinking from them. When I almost killed . . . someone, I changed to animals. William . . . he believes that vampires should rule. That we should be superior to humans, instead of hiding what we are. That we should feed off humans. He's a lot like the Mastermind – he has no regard for human life whatsoever."

"How does this fit into Zoe being made immortal?" Frank asked.

"He did a similar thing with my father several centuries ago." Dan said. "William and Dad were vampires for about a century before they met Mum. William was draining at least two humans a day while Dad was drinking from animals. William, being William, decided that he could use Mum to get Dad to turn to drinking humans by stalking Mum, scaring her, etcetera, etcetera, but Dad wouldn't budge. Eventually, William got sick and tired of playing and he performed the spell on Mum that he performed on himself and Dad to Turn them into vampires."

Frank glanced at Zoe before looking back at Dan. "You said 'similar'? How is Zoe's case different to what happened to Katarina?"

"Because after William turned Katarina, Dad went a little crazy." Dan said. "He destroyed the spell and killed off any witches who knew how to do it."

"So how did . . . How did he make Zoe a vampire?" Frank asked.

"He fed me his blood and then he snapped my neck." Zoe said, keeping her face as impassive as she could manage. Even so, Dan saw a few unshed tears glistening in those green eyes that he loved so much.

Zoe wasn't looking at Dan, though. Her entire focus was on Frank, watching as the colour drained from his face. "You're . . . You're dead?"

Zoe nodded sadly. "I'm so sorry, Frank."

Frank turned on Dan, storming forward. "You –"

"Don't start." Dan said. "I never wanted this for her. I _offered _to take away her memories of me and leave, but I didn't because she didn't want that."

Frank's expression softened as Zoe said, "Neither of us wanted this. But this is the way everything's turned out and we just have to deal with it."

Frank swallowed. "You're really okay, Zoe?"

Zoe nodded, glancing over at Dan. "I'm still not very good at it, but . . . I'm learning. Dan's teaching me how to control myself, how to feed off animals. I'm still the same person. I still don't want to hurt anyone."

Frank nodded and moved forward. Zoe, being mindful of how strong she was now, moved forward and hugged him. She held her breath so she wouldn't breathe in the scent of his blood and Dan smiled as he watched them. Zoe seemed to be coping surprisingly well with the Change, but he knew that that could change in a matter of days. For the next few months, she would need all their support.

Zoe stepped back into Dan's arm when her control started to slip, turning her head and burying her face in Dan's jacket as his arm circled around her waist.

"So what's happening with Tom and Aneisha?" Frank asked. "Something must have happened. I mean, Tom is –"

"No. No, no, no." Dan said, shaking his head and cutting him off. "That's not my story to tell. You want to know what they've been through in the past month? Call them down here and ask them yourself."


	6. Chapter 6

"Do you think Zoe's okay?" Aneisha asked quietly.

Tom shrugged. "It's hard to say. Dan _does _know more about this stuff than we do."

"I wish I did know more about it." Aneisha said. "I wish I could do _something _instead of just letting Dan help her. She's my best friend, Tom, and I can't help her. Do you know how much that hurts?"

Tom brushed her hair back from her face. "You'll figure out some way to help her. I know you will."

Aneisha gave him a grateful smile. "I just . . . I wish I could find some way to take her mind off of it, like . . . I don't know, making it snow on demand or something cool like that."

Tom nodded. "You should see if you can do that. I think Zoe would like that."

Aneisha smiled and bumped her shoulder against his. "I'm going to do that, you know."

Tom grinned at her and then noticed her pencil sticking out the pocket of her blazer. He pulled it out, showing her the flashing tip. While the teacher's back was turned, they both crept out of class, leaving their classmates staring after them in bewilderment.

* * *

"What's up, Frank?" Tom asked as he and Aneisha walked into HQ. Zoe and Dan were sitting at the table close together – Dan had his arm around Zoe's shoulders and both of Zoe's hands were resting on the table. Frank, however, looked shell-shocked. It wasn't hard to guess what had made him look that way.

"I know that you know about Dan and Zoe being vampires." Frank said. "I want to know what you two are."

Aneisha sighed. "Frank, what's your favourite animal?"

"Tiger's. What has this got to do with – HOLY SHIT!" Frank yelled as a tiger appeared in front of him. It was a white tiger and Zoe noticed that it was a truly majestic animal – she wouldn't have minded having one as a pet. The tiger moved towards Frank, sat down and then disappeared. The entire exchange must have taken less than thirty seconds, but it was enough to leave Frank wide-eyed.

"I am the Chosen Sorceress." Aneisha declared. "I'm supposed to stop vampires from allowing themselves to become like William – insane and wanting to end the entire human race. If they do become like that, my job is to kill them."

Frank turned to Dan and Zoe. "You left _that _out of your story."

"It was cutting too close to Aneisha's story." Dan replied.

Aneisha explained about the Chosen Sorceress as quickly and simply as she could. When she was done, Frank glanced at Tom. "So why does _he _look like he's on Steroids?"

"Because he's the Chosen Warrior. My protector." Aneisha said.

"Your what?"

As if on cue, Dan shot out of his seat and leaped through the air towards Tom, using all his supernatural speed and strength so that he was only a black-and-blonde blur to Frank's human eyes. Tom's reflexes and senses were so fast now that he saw it immediately. Easily, Tom plucked Dan out of the air and swung him over his shoulder, slamming him into the metal floor with such a force that would have shattered a human spine.

Dan groaned, struggling into sitting position.

"Dan!" Zoe cried from her seat. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Zo." Dan said, staggering as he got up.

Frank sat down. "Can all of you please just . . . get out? I need some space to process this."

The four teens nodded and started to walk out, but then Frank called Dan back. Zoe looked like she wanted to stay with him, but Dan waved her off, turning to Frank, who had his head in his hands.

"Frank." Dan said quietly. "I really did try to save her."

Frank raised his head sadly. "I know you did. You always do. But when I picture the worst thing that ever could have happened to her, I see the Mastermind in her body. Her dying and then coming back . . . to me, that's a blessing, not a curse."

"Vampirism isn't a blessing, Frank. It's a curse. A disease." Dan said. "I never . . . I only ever saw her as a vampire in my worst nightmares. I thought . . . I thought that I would be different. That William wouldn't bother with me."

"Then why don't you change to humans? Fix what he's done?" Frank asked.

"Because it _can't _be fixed. She's not a broken toy, Frank. There's no cure for vampirism. And he doesn't just want me to feed off of humans – he wants me to kill them. _That's _why I can't let him near her."

Frank's brow furrowed and Dan sighed. "While she's new like this, she's fragile. She's unstable. The slightest thing could set he – the Thirst off. William will take advantage of that, make her feed until she can't see, until she's high on the blood. And _that's _when we'll have _major _issues."

"How major?"

"When you're high on blood, you don't really think about what you're doing. You just keep feeding until you pass out. And there's nothing except the guilt to stop you – there's no blinding headache, no nausea, nothing. Frank, if that happens to her, if that happens to Zoe . . . it will destroy her. If I allow that to happen, she'll never be able to live with herself and . . ." his voice dropped to that of a scared little boy. "I don't know if I'll be enough to stop her from taking off her talisman and walking out into the sunlight."

"Where she'll burst into flames." Frank finished quietly.

Dan nodded miserably, sitting down. "I won't let that happen. She's had so many people betray her. I'm going to make sure I don't. Not again."

Frank looked down. "Who betrayed her?"

"Me. I didn't get to her fast enough." Dan said flatly. "And my son of a bitch best friend. Matthew."

"What did he do?"

"He took her to him. He's a werewolf. He's _meant _to be able to resist the compulsion, but yet he refuses to try and teach himself!" Dan cried. "If I ever get my hands on him, I'm going to wring his neck."


	7. Chapter 7

Dan looked up as he heard someone knock on the front door. Zoe was asleep – he'd agreed yesterday to her going home. He was sure now that she could control herself around her foster family. Still, she'd had to come to Dan's to get some proper sleep – she'd been up half the night, listening to the heartbeats of her adoptive family and resisting the primal urge to creep downstairs and rip her foster brother's throat out.

Sighing, Dan got up and walked to the front door, pushing it open to reveal a teenage boy, about sixteen, with messy black hair and bright blue eyes. He had high cheekbones and a thin but muscled body. He was dressed in blue jeans, a red shirt and a black jacket.

"Um . . . Are you Dan?" The boy asked, looking unsure of himself.

Dan looked at him cautiously. "Depends. Who wants to know?"

"Oh. I'm, uh . . . I'm Logan. Do you know what's happened to Matt?"

Dan took a step back, muttering his best friend's name. He moved to slam the door in Logan's face, but the boy said quickly, "I know that Matt's a werewolf. And that you're a vampire. Please. I just want to know what's happened to him."

Dan's anger sparked and he moved forward, so fast that he was only a blur to Logan's weak human eyes, grabbing the front of Logan's shirt. "You want to know what's happened to him? _Fine. _He _refused _to learn to resist Old One compulsion and he took _my _girlfriend to be given the ultimate curse."

He let Logan go and the boy stumbled back a few steps, his blue eyes wide. "No. No. Matt wouldn't do that."

"Oh really?" Dan stretched his sense out, listening for whether Zoe was still asleep or not. When he heard her moving around in the attic, he yelled, "Zoe!"

He heard the stairs creak as she walked down them, followed by her questioning "Dan?" as she walked down the corridor. Logan's jaw fell slack as he stared at Zoe, who seemed unnerved by the sudden attention and Dan's attitude towards it. Usually, Dan became irritated when any guy looked at her for a second longer than he had to, but the way his eyes kept flickering between her and Logan, she knew that for some reason, Dan _wanted _him to be looking at her.

"Um . . . I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name." Zoe said.

Whatever spell Zoe had unknowingly been wielding on Logan broke at the sound of her voice. His jaw snapped shut and he told her his name.

"Logan . . . " Zoe breathed. "You're not . . . Matthew's Logan, are you?"

Logan gave her a small smile and nodded once. "I am Matthew's Logan. I'm his boyfriend."

"Oh, God." Zoe said. Her knees buckled and Dan wrapped his arm around her waist to her from falling. As she leaned on Dan for support, Logan continued to watch her with sad, almost apologetic blue eyes.

"What is it, Logan?" Zoe asked quietly, resting on her cheek on Dan's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Zoe. That this happened to you." Logan said.

Zoe's expression softened. "So am I. Do you want to come in?"

"Zoe." Dan hissed, so low that only she would hear him.

"He's human, Dan." Zoe replied, just as quiet. "What's he going to do?"

Dan sighed, but he stepped aside to let Logan in.

* * *

"I wanna go check how Zoe's doing." Aneisha said. Tom smiled, his brown eyes flickering over to look at her. "You check on Zoe every day."

"Tom, she's been back at school for a week since she Turned and last night she slept at home for the first time since she Turned. I want to see how she's doing." Aneisha said.

"Of course you do." Tom said, leaning over and pressing his mouth against hers. Aneisha smiled as they drew apart, resting her forehead against his. She looked down at Tom's hand, resting on her arm, and she placed her hand on his, his fingertips tracing his mark.

"You look upset." Tom said.

Aneisha rolled her eyes and sighed. "I just wish that I could do something. Something that would make them both human. Or make the Thirst more subdued. Or . . ."

"Have the strength and skills to kill William?" Tom asked.

Aneisha sighed, sitting down. Tom sat beside her on the couch, taking his hand in hers and squeezing tightly. Aneisha dropped her head forward, her black hair falling with it to shield her face from Tom's view as she said, "I _hate _him. I hate him so much for what he's done to her. Tom, he killed her. And now . . . she's dead and Dan blames himself when it's all _Matthew _and _William's _fault. I hate them both. I want to kill William slowly and painfully and as for Matthew . . . I want to drive him insane when I kill him."

"That's . . . nice." Tom said, brushing her hair back from her face.

Aneisha groaned, sitting back. "And the worst part is, Zoe is slightly, a little bit, _grateful _to William for Turning her."

Tom's brow furrowed. That was the most _ridiculous _thing he'd ever heard in his entire life. "But Zoe hates William."

"I know! Somehow, she hates him, but she's also grateful to him. I don't know how that's supposed to work, but it does."

"Hang on, back it up. _Why _is Zoe grateful to William, exactly?"

"Because now she doesn't have to worry about the Mastermind." Aneisha replied glumly. "It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life."

"Does Dan know?"

Aneisha laughed bitterly. "Do you _really _think he would still be alive if he did? Tom, if he _knew, _he'd go off and try to kill William himself. Zoe practically _begged _me not to tell him."

Tom shook his head. "I don't like this, Neish. I can feel it. Something bad is coming."

"And we just don't know it yet." Aneisha said. Then she groaned. "I feel like we're in _Charmed _or _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer _or something."


	8. Chapter 8

When Aneisha and Tom walked into the Morgans' kitchen hand in hand, what they found was completely unexpected – Dan, sitting on the counter, looking ready to attack someone, an unfamiliar dark-haired boy sitting at the table, watching Dan warily. And Zoe was seemingly casually leaning against the counter between them, but Aneisha knew that Zoe's every muscle was tensed for a fight and she was ready to jump between the two if she needed to.

Zoe looked up as Aneisha and Tom walked in, her features flooding with relief. "Neish, thank God you're here."

"Who's that?" Tom asked, pointing at the boy.

"Logan." Aneisha replied. "Matt's boyfriend."

Acting completely on instinct, Tom pushed Aneisha behind him and Zoe groaned, looking between Dan and Tom. "Do you two have to? I mean, seriously, he's _human_. What's he going to do?"

"You know I am right here – " Logan started.

"SHUT UP!" Dan shouted. "SHUT UP RIGHT THIS SECOND BEFORE I SNAP YOUR NECK!"

"Dan!" Zoe cried, turning to face him. She took his hands and squeezed tightly, her gaze softening as she took in his expression. "Dan, look at me."

Dan dragged his gaze from Logan to Zoe, his expression changing as he spoke, so low that only she would hear. "Zoe, Matt killed you. What if Logan's – "

"No." Zoe replied, squeezing his hands so tight that her knuckles turned white. "No, Matt was under compulsion. He wouldn't have done it if he had a free will. If you want somebody to blame, blame William. Not Matt."

Dan stared at her. "If he hurts you – "

Zoe leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Dan's. "He won't. He's human."

Dan kissed her forehead, brushing hair out of her eyes. "If her tries to – "

"That'll be my problem to deal with." Zoe replied, turning back to their friends and returning her voice to its normal volume. "So Logan's here to find out what's happened to Matt. Myself, I'd like some answers. So, let's find Matt."

"Are you insane?" Dan asked.

Zoe pinched the bridge of her nose. "Dan, can we not talk – "

"Yes, we're going to talk about this now! Zoe, he dragged you to your _death_." Dan argued.

"What if it was me?" Zoe asked. "What if it was me who suddenly disappeared, Dan? What would you do if I was missing?"

Dan looked away. "I'd try to find you, no matter what."

"Exactly." Zoe said. "So it's settled. We're finding Matt."

Logan looked excited at the prospect of finally getting somewhere with this. "So, where do we start?"

Zoe turned to Aneisha. "Is there any way of tracking him?"

"Sure. If I had a personal item or a photo . . ."

Logan reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled out the medallion hanging around his neck. "This is Matt's. Will this do?"

"Perfect." Aneisha said, smiling. She reached her hand out for it, but Tom snatched it and handed it to her.

"For God's sake, Tom." Aneisha said. "It's okay. Logan's not going to hurt me or Zoe or anyone. So sit down, shut up and let me do this."

Tom was so surprised that he actually did sit down and clamp his mouth shut. Aneisha sighed, closing her hand around Matt's medallion and closing her eyes. She focused on the medallion and on Matt. Then suddenly, without warning, she slipped into Matthew's head.

Through Matt's eyes, Aneisha found herself in near blackness. She felt cold and when Matt moved his head to the side, she heard a splash and realised that it was because he was up to his neck in water.

"Neish?" Tom asked, standing as Aneisha shifted back into her own head. "What'd you see?"

He knelt down in front of Aneisha and she launched herself forward, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"What'd you see?" Logan asked. Zoe cast him a sharp look as Aneisha sat back, but kept her fingers intertwined with Tom's. "I saw Matt. He's in . . . a basement, I think. And he's alive, for the moment."

"What do you mean 'for the moment'?" Logan asked.

"He's up to his neck in water." Aneisha said gravely. "If we don't find him soon, he's going to drown."

Logan made a strangled noise. "Where is he?"

"I don't know. All I know is he's in a basement."

"Not many places around here have a basement." Zoe said.

Dan's eyes widened and as if they were both thinking the same thing, he and Logan turned to look at each other. "Matt's house does."

"Is it far?" Aneisha asked.

"No, it's a five minute drive from here." Dan said, flinging himself off the counter. "Tom, Aneisha, Logan, you take the car. Zoe, you're with me. We'll meet you there."

Zoe nodded and within a heartbeat, they were gone, not even bothering to close the door behind them. Aneisha looked at Tom and Logan. "What are we waiting for? Let's go get this idiotic werewolf."


	9. Chapter 9

Zoe didn't even know why she was coming. It was Matthew's fault that she was a vampire, Matthew's fault that she now had to drink blood. So why was she rushing to save him?

_Because no matter hat, you still care about people. It doesn't matter that it's technically Matt's fault you died. You don't want him to die_, a voice in the back of her head whispered. Zoe shoved it away as Dan led her down a driveway and they skidded to a stop, both looking around. The house off to their right was two stories high, and to the side of that, Zoe caught sight of the entrance to the basement. She stretched out with all her senses and she sucked in a sharp breath when she heard someone yelling from off to her right.

"He's here." Zoe said, sprinting over to the opening of the basement. She yanked on the door and found that it wouldn't move. She surveyed it quickly, groaning in frustration when she saw that someone had locked it, but Dan came up from behind her and yanked on the lock, easily breaking it in two.

"Sorry." Zoe mumbled as Dan dropped the broken lock on the grass. Dan's head turned to look at her as he pulled the doors open, throwing her a questioning look.

"Human mentality." Zoe told him, earning her a grin. Then he turned to the basement, his grin faltering.

"Matt?" Dan asked, throwing himself into the basement, which was now filled with water. Zoe only hesitated for a second before she dived in after him. If Zoe had still been human, she would have shivered with the sudden cold that hit her skin. She wondered how Matthew could possibly still be alive in this and if he was, he much longer did he have before the cold killed him?

* * *

Before Tom had even brought the car to a stop, Logan was out of the car, stumbling across the ground towards the basement, crying out Matt's name as he went. Aneisha stumbled out after him, but he had much longer legs than she did. Sighing in frustration, she flicked her wrist and an invisible wall slammed into Logan just before he leapt into the basement.

"I'll go see how they're doing. They would've got here well before we did." Tom said. Aneisha grabbed his arm and he turned back to her as she whimpered, "Make sure you come back."

Tom kissed her gently. "I'm invincible, remember?"

With that, he pushed past Logan and dived into the basement. Logan desperately turned to Aneisha. "Is he okay?"

Aneisha focused on her friends and boyfriend, focusing on their auras. She could sense Dan and Zoe's, both ringed in shadows to show that they were vampires. Tom's was a sunset orange colour to embody strength, a characteristic of the Warrior. And she could sense Matthew's, ringed in grey to show he was a lycanthrope.

Aneisha turned to Logan, giving him a reassuring smile. "He's alive. He's okay."

Logan gave her a shaky smile in return and both their heads turned when they heard splashing coming from the basement. Tom crawled out first, soaked through but alive, and Aneisha flung herself at him, tucking her head under his chin as her hands wrapped around his waist, hugging him tightly. Tom staggered but he held her tightly, resting his head against her hair.

Logan peered anxiously into the basement. "Matt?"

Suddenly Matthew emerged, supported by Dan on one side and Zoe on the other. His skin was ashen, his lips were blue and he was coughing so violently that his knees kept buckling and if it weren't for Dan and Zoe's fast reflexes, he would have brought all three of them down.

Matthew wearily raised his head, brown eyes widening into perfect circles when he saw the black-haired boy watching anxiously. Dan didn't know how the human boy had so much self-control. If it was him, he would have Zoe in his arms already.

"Logan?" Matthew asked, his hands gripping Dan and Zoe's shoulders tightly, so that he wouldn't fall.

"Matt!" Logan cried, flinging himself at the werewolf. As Logan hugged Matthew, Dan and Zoe jumped back. Zoe stepped back from the two boys, but she continued to watch Matthew warily, as if he might sudden turn around and bite her.

"Zoe." Dan said softly, suddenly at her side. Zoe glanced over at him quickly before she continued to watch Matthew, barely noticing as Dan draped his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

Matthew pulled away from Logan, turning to Zoe and Dan. Dan suddenly became tense as Matthew stood. "Zoe, I am so sorry for what I did to you. I should have . . . I should have resisted the compulsion. I know that now. At least he didn't kill you, right?"

Something in Zoe finally snapped. Before anyone could make a move to stop her, she had surged forward and pushed Matthew to his knees, fisting her hands in his thick brown hair and yanking his head back. Matthew screamed in pain, but he made no move to stop her. Logan moved forward, but Aneisha pulled up a wall to stop him. None of them would let her kill Matthew, but they all knew she needed to do this.

"I am not dead." Zoe hissed into Matthew's ear. "He didn't kill me. He Turned me."

Matthew's brown eyes flickered to look at her, taking in her pale skin and the faint veins that were now painted across her skin. "Zoe, I'm so sorry."

Zoe twisted her fingers further in his hair and Matthew screamed, making Logan's heart twist in his chest. He beat his fists against the invisible wall separating him from Matthew, but it did nothing. It refused to budge. He considered turning around and attacking Aneisha, but somehow he knew that Tom could put him down for the count faster than he could blink. As if reading his mind, Tom moved to stand protectively in front of Aneisha.

As for Zoe, she could feel the Thirst stirring within her. She could smell Matt's blood – Dan had told her that werewolf blood was supposed to taste sweeter than any humans could hope to be. She felt her fangs poking into her bottom lip and she imagined herself sinking her teeth into his neck, oblivious to Logan's screams of protest, and she would drain his life force and when she was done, she would yank his head back, watching as his lifeless body fell to the ground, but his head remained in her grasp.

"Zoe!"

Logan's shout brought Zoe back to herself and she looked up. For a second, although they looked nothing alike, Zoe didn't see Logan. She saw Dan, his blue eyes frantic. When she blinked, he was Logan again, but the damage had already been done.

Zoe let go of Matthew, watching in horror as he slumped to the ground. Aneisha dropped the wall separating Logan from Matt and Logan pushed forward, falling to his knees beside the werewolf.

"Oh my God." Zoe whimpered, pushing the Thirst back as she walked backwards, barely registering that it was Dan who wrapped his arm around her. Whimpering, she turned her head and buried her face in his neck, her hands gripping his shirt tightly.

Tom, recognising that the threat was gone, moved to kneel in front of Matthew as Logan helped him sit.

"Matthew." Tom started.

"What do you want?" Matthew moaned.

"Who locked you in there?"

Matthew stared at him for a long time before he looked over at Logan. Logan gave him a reassuring nod and Matthew turned back to Tom. "It was William."


	10. Chapter 10

"William. . ." Dan breathed, his eyes widening with unmistakable horror. He pulled Zoe behind him and hissed, "Tom, get up."

Tom jumped to his feet and started towards Aneisha, pitching forward when a hand yanked her back, a strong arm pulling her against a tall body.

"William!" Dan shouted.

"What are you doing here?" Zoe asked.

Logan's eyes darted frantically between William and Dan. "Who is this guy?"

William's gaze travelled lazily to Matthew, crouched on the ground beside Logan. "You weren't supposed to save him."

"What do you mean?" Logan asked boldly.

William turned his gaze to Logan, almost amused. He shoved Aneisha away from him and she stumbled forward, almost tripping over the long grass. Tom wrapped her in his arms and Aneisha clung to him, her face pressed against the fabric of his shirt although her brown eyes followed William as he moved towards Logan and Matthew. Matthew glared at William over Logan's shoulder, but Logan met William's eyes defiantly as the Old One knelt down in front him, cocking his head to the side. "How interesting. Do you know how Zoe came to be the way she is?"

"No. All I know is that for some reason everyone's blaming Matt." Logan replied, his confusion overcoming his bravado.

"They're _blaming _him." William said, amused. "That's interesting."

"Just tell him, you son of a bitch." Matthew moaned, clutching his side. Zoe's gaze flicked nervously towards Aneisha and Tom, feeling Dan's arm wrap around her waist.

A smile tugged at William's mouth. "I compelled your Matthew to bring young Zoe to me. Then I waited until Daniel came for her. Then I fed her my blood and I killed her."

Logan turned to look at Matt, who looked away guiltily. "Logan . . ."

"You're lying." Logan said, turning back to William. He launched himself at the ancient vampire, but William just swatted him away like a fly. Logan was sent flying through the air to land heavily in the dirt on his back. He groaned and struggled to sit as Matthew got up and stumbled over to him.

Aneisha stepped out of Tom's embrace and swung her arm out. Immediately, it was as if William had been hit by an invisible force. He was thrown backwards almost ten metres and when he got up, he felt a stabbing pain in between his shoulder blades.

Snarling, William whirled and yanked the knife out of his back. He now found himself staring at a girl who appeared to be about fifteen, with straight brown hair and big, doe brown eyes.

"Get out of here, William." The girl said. "Before I cut your head off."

Zoe expected him to make a infuriating comment, but instead he turned to Zoe and said, "Vampires eat people," and took off, leaving only a cloud of dust and his words ringing in Zoe's head behind to prove that he was even there. Dan squeezed her hand gently before he shoved her behind him, his blue eyes completely focused on the brunette girl, who glanced at Aneisha with curiosity. "Sorceress."

Tom stepped in front of Aneisha, his brown eyes hard and the girl's mouth quirked into a smile before she turned to Dan, crossing her arms over her chest. "Daniel Morgan."

Dan tensed and Zoe wrapped her fingers around his arm as he said, "Who wants to know?"

"Skylar Plickett." The girl said. "Your cousin."

Dan stared at her. "I don't have any cousins. There's only three existing Old Ones. My parents and William. So you can't be Offspring."

"That's because I'm not. I'm dhampir – a half-human, half-Old One." Skylar said.

Aneisha turned on Dan. "You never mentioned anything about inter-species breeding!"

"That's because I didn't know about it!" Dan shot back. He turned to Skylar. "Get in the car. I need to go see my parents."

* * *

Tom drove Skylar, Aneisha, Matthew and Logan back to Dan's while Dan and Zoe walked. Skylar sat in the front beside Tom, while Matthew was lying across the backseat, his head in Logan's lap, while Aneisha crouched on the floor, trying her best to heal him. She was doing her best, but the Sorceress wasn't made for healing. She was made for keeping balance.

Aneisha felt fear tightening on her throat as Matthew's eyes opened to look into Logan's face. He was shivering violently, his arms locked around himself. Logan swallowed, pushing Matthew's hair out of his eyes. It struck him how cold Matthew's skin was, and he lifted his eyes to meet Aneisha's gaze.

"Tom!" Aneisha cried desperately.

"The heaters are on as high as I can get them and I'm breaking so many road laws I'd get my licence provoked. So just hang in there, we're nearly there." Tom replied.

* * *

Dan pulled out his phone, listening to it ring, until his father's voice answered. "_Daniel?"_

"Please tell me you and _Mother_ are home." Dan said.

Thankfully, Ezekiel ignored Dan's sarcastic use of the word 'mother'. _"Yes . . . Why?"_

"Okay, so William tried to drown Matthew and this chick showed up saying that she's my cousin, but she's only half-vampire. You two have _heaps _of explaining to do." Dan said.

He heard his father sigh. "_Get back here as fast as you can. We'll explain everything, I promise. Is Zoe with you?"_

"Yeah."

"_Is she okay? Did he hurt her?"_

Dan chanced a glance over at Zoe, who looked shaken, but she was still standing. "She's okay. He didn't get near her."

"_Good. Get back here as soon as possible."_ Ezekiel said, before he hung up and Dan sighed, shoving hi phone back into his pocket. Zoe looked over at him, resisting the urge to press her mouth against his. They had more pressing matters to deal with.

"Let's go." Dan told her and together, they took off, moving so fast they would be undetectable to the naked human eye.


	11. Chapter 11

When Dan and Zoe walked into the kitchen, Ezekiel and Katarina Morgan were sitting at the table. Zoe brought herself to an abrupt halt, fear suddenly rising in her chest. This was the first time she'd seen Katarina since she'd woken with a still heart.

"Is it true?" Dan asked.

Before Ezekiel or Katarina could answer, Skylar pushed in behind Dan and Zoe, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and an arrogant smirk on her lips. Katarina's eyes widened and she breathed, "Skylar."

Skylar shot Katarina a brilliant smile. "Hey, Auntie Kat."

Zoe's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. She didn't think that many people, or vampires, for that matter, would have the courage to call Katarina 'Kat'. She certainly wouldn't, the way Katarina had been towards her when she had first started dating Dan.

"Skylar." Ezekiel said. "What are you doing here?"

As she turned to Ezekiel, Skylar's attitude suddenly turned cold, her casual posture turning tense and defensive, poised and ready to attack. "I prefer Sky. Skylar's the name my Dad gave me."

Dan groaned in frustration. "Is she my cousin or not?"

Ezekiel turned his attention to his son and nodded once. "She is. She is half-human, half-vampire. The first of her kind."

"Lucky me." Sky said sarcastically.

"That's not possible. William – " Dan started.

"William was not always the sadistic bastard he is now." Ezekiel said. "He's always been completely insane, but he wasn't always like this, Dan, I promise."

"What happened?" Dan asked.

"For several decades after William and I were Turned, we really just travelled. When we were in Venice, we met this woman named Ariel. She was, before I met your mother, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I was able to just appreciate how beautiful she was, but William . . . he fell for her."

Sky swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to listen to Ezekiel tell this story.

"We had planned to remain there for only a week, but there were complications." Ezekiel said.

"What kinds of complications?" Zoe asked. She and Dan wee now sitting on the floor together, Zoe practically in his lap while Dan's arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, so tight that his hands would have left bruises on her skin if she'd still been human.

"They found out that Ariel was pregnant." Katarina said. "With William's baby. William and your father stayed until Ariel gave birth to Sky. But they didn't take into account the fact that her baby was part vampire, the most deadly creature on Earth. She was just a mere human."

"What happened to her?" Zoe asked quietly.

"She died giving birth to me." Sky said.

Zoe turned to look at Sky. She didn't doubt that the dhampir had an attitude problem, but she didn't doubt that Sky had said attitude problem for a reason. And _this _was obviously the reason.

"Dan, vampires are basically amplified versions of humans. We're stronger, we're faster and our diet is so much more extreme than theirs. Ariel's body wasn't built to withstand the pressures of giving birth to a child who was as strong as a seven year old."

"But on the other side of that stone," Katarina said, "It also means that we feel things so much more than the humans do. We love more passionately, but we also feel loss on a much deeper level."

"That's what made William lose it. He lost Ariel." Dan sai.

Ezekiel nodded. "After he lost Ariel, he looked after Sky for two years before he left her."

Zoe turned to Sky. "He _abandoned _you?"

Sky shrugged. "I can't say I blame him. I mean, the love of his life is dead because of me. I'd be pretty pissed too."

"Yeah, but . . . you were just a baby."

Sky shrugged. "Ezekiel looked after me."

"But now, because of Ariel, he seems to think that all vampires should be with vampires, and that humans should be food."

"That's why he Turned Katarina." Zoe said. "That's why he Turned me."

Ezekiel nodded, glancing away from Dan's angry expression. "Why did I not know about this before? How did I not know I had a cousin and how did I not know about dhampirs?"

"Because it wasn't important. When you started dating Zoe, we were going to, but then you found out about William coming back and we just . . . we didn't think it was important."

Suddenly Dan and Zoe were both on their feet.

"Wasn't important?" Dan hissed. "I have family I've never even known about, vampires and humans can _actually_ have children, and you don't think it's important?"

Zoe glanced at him nervously, before grabbing his arm and tugging him out of the room. Out in the hallway, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Dan." Zoe said. Dan turned his head towards her, his blue eyes flickering open so he could see her. Without a word, Zoe moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head in the crook of his neck. She felt his arms wrap around her as he pressed a kiss to her hair and she whispered, "I love you."

Dan rested his hand on the back of Zoe's neck and she raised her head, bringing her lips to his in a kiss. She felt Dan smile into her mouth and she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling the ends of his hair tickling her fingers.

When they broke apart, Zoe rested her forehead against Dan's, revelling in the tingling sensation that Dan's fingers left behind as they trailed across her skin, from the back of her neck to her cheek.

"How long as it been since you fed?" Dan asked.

Zoe shrugged. She honestly didn't know.

"Come on." Dan said. "Let's get you some food, before you pass out."

That was a joke on his part. Both Dan and Zoe knew that she wouldn't.


	12. Chapter 12

Dan pushed the window open and climbed out. He turned to help Zoe through, but she just leapt through after him. She landed easily on her two feet beside him and gave him an easy grin as Dan just stared at her with an impressed expression.

"You know if I ever did that, I would _literally _be kicked into next year?" Dan asked.

Zoe shrugged, smiling. "Yeah, but you're not an unstable new vampire, are you?"

Dan didn't answer. Instead, he pulled Zoe towards him and kissed her, slipping his fingers into the hair at the back of her neck. When they broke apart, Zoe's hands were resting on his chest, her fingers bunching his shirt up. Dan watched as Zoe's mouth curved into a grin and she shoved him back before darting into the forest. Dan darted after her, easily catching up with her as she found a fox and easily subdued the animal by slamming it so hard against a tree that he heard every bone in the animal's body break. He left Zoe to her own devices and took off to the right upon hearing a small hawk in the tree. He paused underneath the tree and looked up, his sharp eyesight immediately seeing the hawk sitting in the top branches of the tree. Easily, Dan scrambled up the trunk of the tree and flung himself at the branch the hawk was sitting on, grabbing onto the branch easily with both hands. The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds.

The hawk, its inferior senses being no match for Dan, stood no chance against the blonde and it fell from the tree, landing unsteadily on the ground. Dan let go of the tree branch and landed on the hawk, effectively snapping the bird's spine underneath the weight of all the muscle in his tall body. Dan knelt down beside the now dead bird and yanked a handful of feathers out of its neck before he sunk his teeth into its neck and he started to drink.

He'd only drunk a third of the bird's blood when he heard the sound of retching and coughing, coming from where he'd left Zoe.

The hawk suddenly forgotten, Dan raced back to where he'd left her and found her leaning against a tree, the fox and a small black rabbit at her feet.

"Zoe!" Dan cried, moving towards her within seconds and taking her face in his hands. He immediately noticed that her mouth was smearing with blood – he immediately recognised that it was the blood of both the rabbit and the fox.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked gently, wiping away the blood with his hand.

Zoe nodded feebly. "Yeah, I just . . . smelled humans and it kind of shocked me a little."

She gave him a shaky smile as Dan thought back. He hadn't recalled smelling humans, but her senses were much more sensitive than his own.

"You're okay?" Dan asked.

Zoe nodded and Dan kissed her forehead. "Come on, we should get back. I don't completely trust Sky not to murder Matthew in his sleep."

Zoe gave him a gentle smile. "You still care about him, don't you? After everything that's happened, after everything he's done, he's still your best friend."

Dan looked pained. "I wish he wasn't. I wish that I could just . . ."

"I know." Zoe rested her forehead against his and placed one hand on his cheek, while the other fell onto his shoulder. "I know."

* * *

Aneisha sighed and flopped down onto the floor beside Tom, who immediately wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Aneisha gave him a tired smile as he kissed the side of her head. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just tired. Healing takes more out of me than creating the fire that's going to kill William does."

"How are you going with that?"

"I can get a small flame and keep it going for a few seconds." Aneisha said, just as Sky walked in. Aneisha tensed against Tom and she kept her eyes on Sky as the dhampir moved to sit in a chair across the room from Logan and Matthew. There was definitely something ruthless about Sky, as if she'd rip your head off if you even looked at her wrong.

"Is this the fire you're trying to create to kill my father, Sorceress?" Sky asked.

Aneisha silently thanked her for calling her by her proper title, instead of a witch, like Matthew had. "Yeah – whoa, whoa. Wait. _William _is your dad?"

"Yeah. So?"

"But . . . you want him dead!" Aneisha exclaimed, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"He's Dan's uncle." Sky pointed out, pushing brown hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah, but . . ."

"Look." Sky said. "You want him dead to avenge your friend – that Zoe. I want him dead for two reasons – one, so that when I finally find someone to live for, to make eternity worth it, he won't kill them to make me turn to human blood. And two, to save him from this hell. He's lived for nearly a millennium, secretly wishing for his existence to end so that he could be reunited with my mother. I can't imagine anything worse than that. Can you?"

Aneisha shook her head, glancing over at Tom. She tried to imagine him dying and then being forced to spend almost a thousand years without him. She couldn't imagine a worse fate.

"Why is William scared of you?"

"I'm strong." Sky replied. "I've got the best attributes from both races – humans and Old Ones. He knows that I could rip him apart if I could really be bothered to fight him."

"But if he wants to die – " Tom started.

"Just because he wants to die, it doesn't mean his survival instincts don't work." Sky said.

In his sleep, Matthew moaned and Logan, lying beside him, pushed his hair back from his forehead and Matthew calmed.

"How is he?" Sky asked, nodding towards the werewolf.

"He's lucky." Aneisha replied. "Between me healing him and his natural fast healing, he'll be fine. He's not coming down with hypothermia."

"Good." Sky said. "The last thing we need is a sick werewolf to take care of."

"We?" A new voice from behind Aneisha and Tom asked. "Who said anything about we?"


	13. Chapter 13

Aneisha and Tom whirled to face Dan and Zoe, standing behind them. Aneisha noticed the troubled look in Zoe's eyes and she summoned her ability to see people's auras, turning her attention to Zoe's. True to her assumption, Zoe's aura looked grey, showing that she was indeed troubled by something. As she pushed the image away, Aneisha wondered what the _hell _had happened when Dan and Zoe went hunting, to shake Zoe that much.

"There is no 'we'. There is no 'us', Sky." Dan said. "Just because you're my cousin, it doesn't mean I want you around. You can go back to – "

Before he'd even finished speaking, Sky was out of her chair and in front of Dan, her hands wrapped around his throat. Zoe gasped and started towards them, but Tom leapt to his feet and pulled her hands behind her back. Zoe struggled, but Tom leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "She's obviously a lot older than you are, Zoe. She could kill you without even blinking."

Zoe grunted, but she stopped struggling against him as she watched Sky lean forward, so she was eye level with Dan. "I am older than your _mother, _Dan_. _I am as strong as William is. To kill him, you're going to need me."

With that, she threw Dan back into the wall. Zoe started struggling against Tom again and he let her go. Within a second, Zoe was at Dan's side, her green eyes worried. When she was sure that he was fine, she turned on Sky, who easily flung her against the wall.

"Enough!" Aneisha yelled, getting to her feet and raising her hand to shoulder level, hand clenched. Sky was slammed back by an invisible force into the wall. Sky looked surprised for a minute, but then she grinned. "_That's _the Sorceress. You know, you could do the fire if you really wanted to."

Aneisha squeezed her hand shut tighter and Sky cried out in pain as she writhed against the invisible hand holding her down.

"Neish." Tom warned.

Aneisha only squeezed Sky tighter and Zoe started towards the dhampir, but Dan pulled her back. Zoe whimpered softly and buried her face in Dan's shirt, feeling his hands wrap around her as Tom yelled, "Aneisha! Stop!"

Something about Tom's voice shocked Aneisha out of her lapse of control. She dropped her hold on Sky and the brunette dropped to the ground as Aneisha backed up a few steps, gasping. Tom moved towards her and pulled her into his arms, letting her bury her face in his neck.

"You need me." Sky gasped, struggling to her feet. "You need me to kill William."

For some reason, her attention was turned on Zoe as she said that, but Zoe wasn't paying much attention. Before anyone could answer her, a voice from the bed asked, "Dan?"

Dan's head snapped up, to where Logan was helping Matthew struggle into sitting position.

"We'll just . . ." Sky said, getting up. She pulled Aneisha, Tom and Zoe out of the room with her, but Dan reached out for Zoe. "Zo. Can you stay?"

Zoe nodded and moved towards him. She felt Dan's arm wrap around her waist as the door closed behind the others, dropping his head onto her shoulder. Zoe ran her hand up and down his back before he raised his head and turned to Matthew. "What you've gotten is a _lot _better than you deserve, _Matt."_

Dan expected Matt to argue with him. Instead, he said, "I know. I should have drowned in that basement."

Logan made a strangled noise, but he didn't say anything.

"Why did you do it, Matt?" Dan asked.

"The compulsion – "

"The compulsion my arse!" Dan shouted. "How many times did I tell you? You need to know your limitations!"

"Dan." Zoe said quietly, watching him worriedly. She wasn't worried about Dan losing his temper and ripping Matthew apart because she knew he wouldn't get that far. She was afraid that Matt would bite Dan and who knew how long he would have then?

Because as she watched Dan fight to keep his anger in check, the same image kept running through her head – of Dan lying on a bed, only seconds away from his final death.

Logan, who had been silent up until now, suddenly decided to make his opinion count. "Well, what if he doesn't want to learn his limitations? He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to."

Dan fought the urge to roll his eyes as his anger flared up again. "Well, if he doesn't, how is he _ever _going to be able to resist vampiric compulsion? What's to stop William from going after _you _next time?"

Before Logan could answer, Matthew got to his feet. He already looked as if nothing had happened – his skin had regained its colour and he stood steady on his feet, glaring defiantly at Dan as he hissed, "If you touch him, I will rip you apart, Morgan. And you will _never _see it coming."

As Dan's expression darkened, Zoe shouted, "Tom! Tom, get in here now!"

She heard him barrelling down the hallway as Dan stepped out of her reach, paying no attention as Zoe tried to pull him back. He answered Matthew and Zoe didn't bother to listen as she desperately listened for Tom's arrival, her unbeating heart twisting in her chest. Zoe exchanged a quick, panicked glance with Logan, who was obviously trying to figure out how to pry the vampire and the werewolf apart.

Matthew's mouth twisted into a snarl and he lunged towards Dan, just as the door flew open and Tom threw himself between the two. As Zoe pulled Dan back so roughly that he stumbled backwards, Matthew's teeth sunk into Tom's shoulder. Tom shoved Matthew back onto the bed and all of a sudden, it was like his knees had lost the capability to hold his body up. He fell to the ground and with a shaking hand, he reached up to touch his shoulder. When he pulled his hand away, he saw that his palm was covered with his own blood.

"Tom!" Aneisha shouted, running into the room and collapsing beside him. Sky stormed over to Matthew and Logan and grabbed them by their shirts, shoving them out of the room before she then turned to Dan and Zoe. Dan was staring at the space that Matthew had previously occupied while Zoe was staring at Tom, breathing heavily as a network of veins traced across her skin.

"You should get her out of here." Sky said, nodding towards Zoe. Dan snapped out of his haze and looked up at Zoe, immediately noticing the traces of the Thirst and the way that she slightly trembled. Not needing to be told twice, Dan leapt to his feet and grabbed Zoe's arm. Then they were both gone.


	14. Chapter 14

When Dan stopped, Zoe stumbled a few steps forward, looking around as she tried to get her bearings. The Thirst didn't help much so she pushed it back and recognised the forest surrounding her – she was in the forest outside the Morgan household. She considered trying to catch a rabbit or something, but she doubted that she would be able to stomach it.

Before she could make herself try, Zoe heard a groan and she turned to see Dan fall down to the forest floor and put his head in his hands. Deciding that her curiosity over what had just happened with Tom and Matthew was more important than her recent inability to stomach animal blood, Zoe walked over to Dan and knelt down in front of him, putting her hands on his wrists. Dan lowered his hands and opened his eyes so Zoe could see his eyes – those eyes that she willingly would have drowned in.

"You never told me that bit." Zoe whispered.

Dan stared at her and slowly leaned forward so his forehead was pressed against her's. One of his hands came up to cup the side of her face and he squeezed his eyes shut, but he said nothing. Soon enough, Zoe whispered, "What happens when a werewolf bites a human, Dan?"

Dan pulled away and stared at her. Finally, he spoke.

* * *

Aneisha brushed Tom's hair back from his forehead as Sky sat down on the bed, her large brown eyes regarding the two carefully. "You really love him, don't you?"

Aneisha just nodded, her eyes focused on Tom's unconscious face as Sky breathed, "Amazing."

"What's that?" Aneisha asked, tearing her eyes away from long enough to throw a quick glance the dhampir's way.

"How amazing it must be." Sky replied. "To love someone that much."

Aneisha felt a smile tug at her mouth as tears stung her eyes. She remembered that in almost a millennia, Sky had never been in love. And yet Aneisha had fallen in love before she'd even seen her eighteenth birthday. Dan was facing eternity and now he no longer faced it alone. Aneisha hoped that Sky found someone soon. Forever was an awfully long time to spend alone.

Aneisha looked down and traced the Mark on the back of Tom's hand. The bite Matthew had left on Tom's shoulder was now healed, but Aneisha knew the power of a werewolf's bite. It was one of the few things that could kill a vampire. Who knew what it would do to Tom? "What happens now?"

Terrified of Sky's answer, Aneisha looked up to meet Sky's gaze. The dhampir looked apologetic as she brushed her hair out of her face and said, "Tom will bear the curse of the lycanthrope."

Aneisha had never heard the word 'lycanthrope' before, but she understood the word 'curse' and she wasn't stupid. She could put the pieces together and figure out what Sky meant.

* * *

"On the next full moon, Tom will be forced to Change." Dan said. "He'll be a werewolf. Like Matt."

"Wouldn't it kill him?" Zoe asked. "I mean, if it kills us – "

"No." Dan said. "A werewolf bite kills vampires because our bodies can't handle the change."

"But Tom's already the Warrior." Zoe said. "Won't the Change kill him? Or will it just strip him of being a Warrior?"

"Neither." Dan replied. "Werewolves have been known to be Warriors. Hell, I think there was even a vampire Warrior once."

"So he's going to be okay?" Zoe asked.

Dan nodded and hugged her tightly. "He's going to have a hell of a time getting through the next full moon and keeping his temper in check from now on, but he's going to be okay, Zoe. He's not going to die."

Zoe squeezed her eyes shut and decided to wait to tell Dan about her inability to drink animal blood. He had enough to deal with.

* * *

"This full moon's going to be hard." Dan said. "Are you ready for it?"

"Yes." Tom replied.

"Wrong!" Dan shouted, lunging at the Warrior. Tom, as usual, was ready for him and practically plucked Dan out of the air, throwing him against the wall. Dan easily got up of the floor and gave Tom a grin. "You're getting better, Warrior."

"And you're getting slower, Vampire." Tom shot back.

As the two boys started fighting again, Aneisha turned to Zoe. "So, where's Matthew?"

Zoe shrugged. "Home, probably. Dan told him to piss off and that he never wanted to see him again. Naturally, Logan took off with him."

"I would've skipped town, if I were him." Aneisha said. "I could kill him myself."

"But you won't." Zoe said. "Because if anyone gets to kill him, it's going to be me."

Aneisha's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just . . . Sky's stressing me out."

"She seems okay. I think she's a little bit lonely." Aneisha replied.

"I guess. But she keeps looking at me like she knows something I don't." Zoe replied.

"Maybe she does." Aneisha suggested. "She _has _been around a lot longer than any of us have."

"What, like I have some weird sire bond with William?" Zoe joked. "She's probably just trying to cause trouble, Neish."

Aneisha looked over at Tom as he flung Dan against the wall. It was a week since Matthew had bitten him, since they'd all learned what happened to a human once bitten by a werewolf. Aneisha had already noticed that Tom's temper, which had been shortened slightly when she Marked him as her Warrior, had become almost impossibly short. She hoped he would relax after the full moon. This full moon was stressing them all, but especially Tom, who was the one who would be forced to change into a large wolf.

Grinning, Dan flung himself towards Tom, knocking the Warrior to the ground. As Tom grabbed Dan and threw him across the room, Zoe stiffened. The two boys were now natural enemies and Zoe didn't want Tom getting carried away.

Just as Tom reached Dan, the door burst open, revealing Frank. Tom turned towards the sound, his every muscle tensed for a fight.

"Tom, it's just Frank." Aneisha said gently. "It's okay."

Dan darted around to stand beside Zoe, his eyebrows raising in surprise as Tom said, "Don't treat me like a child."

"I wasn't – " Aneisha started, but Dan placed his hand on her shoulder, silencing her.

"Are you lot done?" Frank asked, glancing nervously between Dan and Tom. They'd briefed him on the current situation with Tom, but he'd never really seen the effects of it before. As he looked at Tom now, he felt as if he were looking at someone completely foreign, someone he was only just meeting.

"Yeah." Dan said, turning to Frank. "What's up?"

"We have a mission. Are you two going to be okay or do I need to bench the both of you?"

"NNo we'll be okay." Zoe said.

"We'll be fine." Tom said defensively. Aneisha pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping that once he Changed, he would calm down a lot more.


	15. Chapter 15

"So what's our mission?" Zoe asked.

"We have received information that in the past twenty-four hours, KORPS have kidnapped a girl because of her . . . gifts." Frank said.

"Gifts?" Aneisha asked, not really comprehending.

"She's incredibly fast, unbelievably strong. She's obviously – "

"A vampire." Tom said.

"But if they have a vampire in their custody, why hasn't she just broken out?" Zoe asked. "And what do they want with her?"

"Holy water." Dan said, glancing over at Zoe before shifting his gaze to Frank. "They'll be injecting her with Holy water to keep her subdued and weak. And as for why they've got her . . . I'd say they want to harness the powers she possesses and to create super-soldiers."

"If they managed it . . ." Aneisha breathed. "If they _actually _managed it, they'd be unstoppable. There'd be no hope."

"Frank?" Zoe said suddenly. "Do you have any pictures of the vampire?"

"Why?" Dan asked. "Why does it matter who it is? Zoe, what are you thinking?"

"I haven't seen Sky at all today." Zoe replied. "Have you?"

Dan made a strangled noise. "No. If they have her – "

"We're screwed." Tom finished, just as Frank pulled up a photo, showing a girl about their age, with brown hair and tired brown eyes.

"Is that her?" Frank asked.

"Yeah. That's Sky." Zoe said, reaching over and taking Dan's hand.

"What's so special about her?" Frank asked.

"She's my cousin." Dan replied. "And she's a dhampir." At Frank's utterly befuddled expression, he said, "She's half vampire and half human. And she's at least nine hundred years old. If KORPS managed to harness the power Sky possesses . . . William's going to be the least of our problems."

"Okay." Frank said. "She's going to be heavily defended. All of you, get over there _now. _We need to get Sky."

* * *

Tom looked up at the facility that Frank had sent them to. It looked like it hadn't been used in at least a decade and he turned to Aneisha as she closed her eyes. "How many can you feel?"

Aneisha winced. "There's a lot of them. Frank was right. Sky is heavily defended."

"So she is here?" Zoe asked.

Aneisha opened her eyes and nodded. "Let's go. We can probably be in and out before they even know we're here."

"Doubtful." Tom replied, earning him exasperated looks from both girls. Dan started forward, moving with that predator's gait as he lead them towards the building. He walked around the side of the structure, completely ignoring the others as he placed one hand on the brick wall and closed his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Zoe asked softly.

"Usually I can sense Sky." Dan explained, his eyes still closed. "Now shouldn't be any different. If KORPS are attempting this, they obviously don't know much about vampires." Then he opened his eyes, sighing as he walked a few metres forward, so they were standing next to a window. He pushed it open soundlessly before he turned around so he was facing Aneisha, Zoe and Tom. "Keep quiet in here."

Then he turned and pulled himself up and through the window. Easily, Zoe followed and Tom helped Aneisha up before climbing through himself.

"Do they have to make _everything _so dark?" Aneisha asked, peering down the corridor.

"It's not." Zoe whispered.

"Not to us." Dan replied. "I'm surprised they can see anything at all."

"More like you're revelling in how easy it would be to kill us." Tom breathed.

Dan rolled his eyes, forcing himself to keep his temper in check. He reminded himself that Matthew had been the same when he had first activated the werewolf gene but he hadn't yet hit his first full moon, but he'd calmed down after he'd changed for the first time. Tom would be no different.

They rounded a corner and came face to face with two KORPS soldiers. Before the two men could even make a move to stop them, Dan and Zoe were moving forward, easily knocking the two of them down. Dan immediately dropped his KORPS soldier, but Zoe hesitated, listening to the sound of the man's blood rushing through his veins.

"Zoe." Dan said, immediately noticing the network of blue veins that appeared on her temples. Disgusted with herself, Zoe came to her senses and dropped the man, taking a step back as she pushed the Thirst back. Tom's natural werewolf hatred for vampires began to mingle with the Warrior instinct to kill vampires and Aneisha, always so attuned to his emotions, pulled up an invisible wall between him and Dan and Zoe. "You two go on ahead. We'll catch up."

Dan wore a puzzled expression, but he exchanged a glance with Zoe and they both shrugged before they both took off in search of Sky. Aneisha sighed and turned to Tom, watching as he slowly dragged his eyes from the two retreating vampires to her. When he finally surrendered his undivided attention to her, Aneisha crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him. "What is with you?"

Tom looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Tupper." Aneisha said. "Ever since Matthew bit you, you've been impossible. You've been irritable, arrogant and treating Dan and Zoe like dirt. They're your _friends, _Tom. They'd never hurt you and you know that. And frankly, Dan's got enough to deal with without you being a complete and utter arsehole. So I'm going to ask you again. What is up with you?"

Tom stared at her for a long time before he sighed, sitting down heavily on the stone floor. Aneisha quickly glanced left and right before she knelt down in front of him, enveloping them both in a dome so that if any KORPS agents came their way, it would appear as if there was nothing there.

Tom reached out and took her hand, his thumb rubbing over the side of her hand. His eyes were cast downwards as he studied the contrast in their skin tones, watching the way his white skin glided across her chocolate brown skin.

"Tom." Aneisha breathed. "Tell me. Please."

Tom raised his eyes to meet hers. Swallowing thickly, he said, "I'm scared, Neish."

"Tom . . ." Aneisha trailed off, unsure of what to say. Even before, he'd never openly admitted that he was scared of something. She realised that six months ago, he never would have openly walked into the situation he found himself in now, but he'd come with them on a _field mission _without blinking.

She knew why, of course. He'd come here without complaining because KORPS no longer scared him. Because he now knew that whatever KORPS could do to him if they found him, there was creatures out there that could do a thousand times worse. She reached forward and wrapped her arms around him, feeling him burrow his head into her shoulder and wrap his muscled arms around her waist.

"I remember Dan telling me that he helped Matt through his first transformation." Tom said. "He said that it was horrible – he could see and hear all of Matt's bones breaking, and he was constantly jumping out of the way because Matt kept snapping at him. He said that he'd never heard anyone scream that much."

"Dan was a lot younger then." Aneisha said gently. "He might have been exaggerating."

"He wasn't." Tom said. Aneisha pulled away so she could see him, see the fear that he was drowning in. She cupped his cheek in one hand, blinking back tears. It hurt her so much to see him like this, to see him so scared. It wasn't right.

"I love you." Aneisha breathed, resting her forehead against his. "I don't tell you that as much as I should, do I?"

"You don't need to." Tom replied. They were so close that his lips brushed against her mouth when he spoke and it didn't take much for him to be kissing her. All he had to do was close his eyes and tilt his head to the side. Aneisha gasped as his mouth met her's, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

When they pulled apart, Aneisha raised her eyes to his almost reluctantly. "Come on. We'd better go catch up with Dan and Zoe."


	16. Chapter 16

After leaving Tom and Aneisha, Zoe and Dan ran to find Sky. They ran so far and so fast that if they were human, their feet would have begun to bleed. As it was, Zoe's lack of blood was beginning to affect her vampiric abilities - her head pounded and with each step, a slight twinge of pain travelled up her leg. She'd been through much worse, though. It was nothing she couldn't handle.

When they reached a block of jail cells, Dan skidded to a halt, holding one arm out to steady Zoe. Before he'd even said anything, Zoe had turned to her right and pulled off the lock from the cell right in front of her.

"Overcome that human mentality, have you?" Dan asked, coming up beside her.

"Yep." Zoe replied, grinning. Dan couldn't exactly put his finger on why, but something about that bothered him. Zoe treasured human life as much as he did. It seemed out of character for her to be disregarding human life so easily and flippantly.

Zoe ignored Dan's concerned look as she pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking around the cell. Dan let out a relieved-sounding noise and pushed past her, walking into the far left corner.

"Sky." Dan said, kneeling down. As Sky wearily raised her head, Zoe's world spun. She leaned against the wall as Sky said, "Hey, Dan. . . What're you doing here?"

"Rescuing you." Dan replied, grabbing Sky's arm and pulling her to her feet. As he draped Sky's arm around his neck, he raised his eyes to Zoe, taking in her ashen skin and weak posture. "Zo?"

"I'm fine." Zoe murmured, digging her fingers into the brick.

"You are not." Aneisha said, suddenly appearing behind her.

"I'm – " Zoe started, right before she blacked out.

* * *

When Zoe opened her eyes again, she found herself lying down on a bed. Rocketing up into sitting position, she looked around. Before she could get much information on where she was, felt a hand fall onto her shoulder and she turned to face Dan, his blue eyes swimming in worry.

"What happened?" Zoe asked. "Is Sky okay? Is she safe? Is she – "

"Whoa, whoa. Wait." Dan said, pushing her back as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and struggled to get up. "Sky's fine. The Holy Water's almost out of her system. I'm more interested in what happened to you, Zoe."

"I'm fine." Zoe said evasively, trying – and failing – to stand again.

"Bullshit you're fine!" Dan yelled. Zoe jumped from the volume of his voice and Dan's expression and voice softened. "We're vampires, Zo. We don't just faint." He took her face in his hands, bowing his head so his forehead rested against hers. "Please, Zoe. I want to help. Let me."

Seeing him like that, so scared for her and so desperate to help like the loving boyfriend that he was, something inside Zoe snapped. As the first tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his jacket as her slender body shook with uncontrollable sobs.

Dan didn't say anything. He simply wrapped his arms around Zoe's petite body and pressed a kiss to her hair, running his hand up and down her back.

When they finally drew apart, Zoe rubbing at her cheeks to rid them of her tears, Dan took Zoe's hand and said softly, "Please."

"I can't keep it down." Zoe blurted.

"Can't keep _what_ down?" Dan asked, fear rising in his chest.

"The animal blood." Zoe replied, close to breaking down again.

Dan sighed, lifting her knuckles to his lips and kissing them lightly. "How long?"

"Since just before we rescued Matt." Zoe said. "When you and I went out hunting that day after Katarina and Ezekiel told us about Sky and Ariel, that was the first time it happened."

"You should have told me sooner, Zo." Dan said gently, brushing hair out of her eyes.

"I meant to." Zoe replied. "But the first time it happened, I thought it was just a once-off. I really _did _think I'd just smelled human blood, Dan. I swear to God. And then, when it kept happening, I didn't want to tell you because you were already stressed with everything with Sky and William and Matt and now Tom and I just . . . I didn't want to give you something else to have to worry about. I didn't want to give you someone else to worry about. I didn't want you worrying about me."

"But, Zo, this is a legitimate worry." Dan said. "Tom will be fine, I'll get to Matthew when I can be bothered, but Zo, if vampires don't feed, we go insane. The Thirst is so blinding that they kill anything and everything that moves."

"I kept myself reasonably well fed with blood bags." Zoe mumbled, deliberately forgetting to mention that she had had difficulty keeping those down too.

"That explains why no one noticed anything." Dan sighed, raking a hand through his pale blonde hair. As his gaze travelled back to Zoe's scared, wide-eyed expression, he wrapped his arms around her again, holding her so tight that he would have crushed a human's spine. "It's going to be okay, Zoe. I promise. I promise you that."

He deliberately didn't mention that he didn't know how long that would be.


	17. Chapter 17

When they pulled apart again, Dan took Zoe's face in his hands, brushing her tears away. Before he could much else other than her name out, Aneisha and Tom walked through the door, their expressions hard. Dan opened his mouth to say something, but Tom cast him a cold look. "Save it, Dan. We heard everything." Then he turned to Zoe. "So. You can't drink animal blood anymore."

"Tom." Aneisha said quietly, placing her hand on his arm. She turned to Zoe, her brown eyes concerned. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Zoe nodded. "I've tried and tried and tried. I've tried every animal I can think of. I can't drink animal blood anymore."

Aneisha sighed, turning to Dan. "So what now? We just teach her control while having her feeding on the one thing that makes your kind go completely crazy?"

"Not just yet." Dan replied. "I want to try every possibility, before we turn to human blood."

"Like what?"

Dan looked uncomfortable. "Vampire blood. And werewolf blood."

Aneisha nodded, but Tom looked disgusted. "_Vampires _drink each other's blood?"

Aneisha stamped on his feet. "Tom!"

"What?"

Aneisha gave him a harsh look before turned back to Dan, who was now sitting on the bed beside Zoe. They were sitting with their fingers intertwined and Zoe had pulled her legs up underneath her, resting her head on Dan's shoulder. "Why do vampires drink each other's blood, Dan?"

Dan took a deep breath. "It's intimate. It's like . . . what sex would be to you two."

Tom looked confused. "So vampires can't have sex?"

Dan pinched the bridge of his nose. "For the love of . . . Of course we can have sex. It just doesn't mean to us what sharing blood does."

Tom wrinkled his nose, but thankfully, he had the good sense not to mention how he still thought it was gross. Instead he asked, "So, who do you want to start with? You or me?"

"You, preferably." Dan replied.

Tom simply shrugged, rolling up the sleeve of his jacket, exposing the naturally pale, smooth skin of his forearm.

"You're awfully calm about this." A new voice said from the doorway. Dan looked up and saw Sky leaning against the doorframe, watching with curiosity. She looked fine – there were no traces of the ordeal she'd just endured.

Tom shrugged again in response to Sky's comment. "Well, if she tries to kill me, I can just turn around and bite her, right? She'll be dead – really dead in minutes."

Aneisha stamped on his feet again and Tom hissed in pain, whirling to face her. "Ow! Since when did you become so violent?"

"Since when did you become such as arsehole?" Aneisha shot back. Tom opened his mouth to answer, but then, thinking better of it, he clamped his mouth shut and turned to Zoe, offering her his arm. Gently, Zoe took his wrist in her hands, her fingers gliding over his skin tenderly. Softly, she asked, "Is the Warrior's blood tainted?"

"No." Sky said. "I've drained three Warriors and hundreds of werewolves, Zoe. The blood itself isn't going to make you sick."

Relieved, Zoe nodded and closed her eyes as a spidery network of veins snaked across her skin, and she sunk her fangs into Tom's wrist. Tom grunted at the initial pain of her bite, until the vampire endorphins kicked in and the pain faded. Zoe drank greedily from him, but before he had a chance to push her away, Zoe shoved Tom backwards, pulling her hair out of her face as she desperately tried to stop the blood from coming back up as her stomach rejected it. Sky suddenly pushed forward, shoving a bucket under her nose. Zoe grasped it and threw up into it, groaning as she placed it beside her. Tom watched his wrist in fascination as his wound stopped bleeding and the skin knitted together, leaving no remaining marks that Zoe had even bitten him at all. Breathing heavily, Zoe gave Dan a pained glance before she pulled her head up, twisting to face him. She took in his blue eyes as he leaned forward and kissed her, tangling his fingers in her long auburn hair. Zoe reached up behind her head and trailed her fingers across his arm. As Dan lowered his arm and trailed his fingers down her side, Zoe pulled back from his kiss and turned her head, leaving a trail of kisses across his arm. Dan gasped and wrapped his free arm around her slender body as Zoe bit down into his skin and his blood exploded into her mouth. Breathing short, ragged breaths, Dan closed his eyes and rested his cheek against the top of her head until Zoe pushed him backwards, reaching for the bucket.

When she was done, she looked up at him apologetically through a curtain of red, taking in his wide blue eyes.

"It's fine." Dan lied, pushing down the rejection he felt as he pulled her towards him and wrapped her in his arms. It wasn't her fault, and he knew that. He knew that as well as he knew his own name. "It's fine."

"So what now?" Aneisha asked, breaking the spell between Dan and Zoe. Dan looked at Aneisha over Zoe's head, letting Zoe burrow her face into his shoulder as Sky snapped, "Are you an idiot? It's obvious what happens now. She – "

"Sky." Dan said tiredly. "That's enough. They're new to this stuff. Give them a break, will you?"

"I thought it was obvious." Sky grumbled. Aneisha rolled her eyes and Zoe slowly took a deep breath, pulling away from Dan and turning to face the dhampir, the Sorceress and the Warrior. "Sky's right. It _is _kind of obvious what has to happen now."

She raised her gaze to meet Tom's expectant one, Aneisha's concerned brown eyes and Sky's arrogant expression. "I have to learn complete control over the Thirst. I have to start drinking from humans."


	18. Chapter 18

Leaving a sleeping Zoe with Tom and Aneisha, Dan walked out into the main section of HQ, closely followed by Sky. They'd managed to get some human blood from a blood bag into her, but it was obvious that it was hard for her to keep it down. There were no more taking shortcuts. She'd have to start taking human blood directly from the vein.

"You _do _realise what this means, don't you?" Sky asked.

"That she has to drink human blood?" Dan asked tiredly, flopping down into a chair.

Sky rolled her eyes. "No. Have you wondered _why _she can't drink animal blood? You can't seriously think she's just 'rejecting the change,' Dan. How long has she been a vampire?"

"Nearly a month." Dan mumbled reluctantly.

"Exactly. And she's only unable to drink animal blood when William tells her to. There's only one thing that – "

"So William's learned a new kind of compulsion that we've never encountered before." Dan said.

"That's not what I meant." Sky said. "Don't even _try _to deny it, Dan. You and I both know what's going on here and the sooner she knows about it, the sooner – "

Dan's head snapped up and suddenly he was standing _right _in front of her, blue eyes blazing. "What exactly are you implying?"

"You know exactly what I'm implying." Sky snapped. Before she could get much else out of her mouth, Dan shoved her backwards into the wall. Snarling, Sky got up and started towards him, but a third shoved itself between Sky and her cousin.

"What's going on?" Frank asked, looking between a now innocent-looking Sky and a murderous-looking Dan.

"Nothing." Sky said brightly, flashing Frank a smile.

Dan rolled his eyes. "Oh, drop the act, Sky. He knows."

Sky glared at him. "Just cannot keep your mouth shut about vampirism, can you, Dan? You know, it's not religion. You're not supposed to 'spread the word'."

"Well, you – "

"Stop it, both of you." Frank said. "You two are giving me a headache. If I wanted to hear children fighting, I would have had kids of my own."

Dan and Sky both gaped at him. "We're not children!"

"Oh yeah? Right now you're acting like you are." Frank replied.

Sky menacingly stepped towards him. "I am nine hundred years old, _human, _and I could pull your – "

"Jesus Christ, Sky. Knock it off." Dan said tiredly, sitting back down. "Just shut up, will you? We get it that you're old and you're powerful. You _do not _need to go scaring the crap out of _everyone _you come across."

Sky glared and mimicked him childishly, but Dan just ignored her and turned to Frank as he asked, "So how's Zoe?"

Dan shrugged. "We figured out _why _she passed out."

"And why'd she pass out?" Frank asked.

"She hasn't fed in over a week." Dan said. "She hasn't been able to keep the animal blood down. William's performed some kind of compulsion on her," as he spoke, his eyes flickered quickly to Sky, "so that she can't feed from animals. We've tried her on everything – _including _werewolf and vampire blood. Human was the only one she could keep down."

Sky laughed. "Yeah, Dan got reject – "

"Sky, I swear to God, if you do not just _shut up_, I am going to knock your head off of your shoulders." Dan snarled, blinking away the memory of Zoe choking on his blood.

"Sky, go see if Tom or Aneisha need help with anything." Frank said.

Sky sighed, but she stomped off in the direction she'd come. Sighing, Frank pulled up a chair and sat down. "What's the deal with this blood-drinking business then? Because it was obvious that she was winding you up just then."

Dan sighed and leaned forward, raking a hand through his blonde hair. "When a vampire takes blood from a human, there's nothing special about it. It's food. The circle of life. But when a vampire _willingly _gives up their blood to another, it's something completely different. It's something special. The ultimate act of love."

"And in there, Zoe literally took that act of love and threw it back up." Frank said quietly. Dan nodded miserably, sighing. "I know it's not her fault, but I'm just sick of William screwing everything up. It wasn't enough for him to make her like me. It wasn't enough that he's made it so that I can't even trust my best friend anymore. No, he has to take yet another stab at me through someone I love. It's not fair that Zoe keep suffering because of me."

"It's not your fault either." Frank said.

Dan shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "Either way, it just gives me more reason to kill William. Zoe should have the right to choose whether she drinks from humans or animals. No one should be making that choice for her."

"What was the compulsion conversation about?" Frank asked.

"Sky . . . Sky thinks that Zoe's connected to William in something called a Sire Bond. Basically, it's what happens sometimes when a vampire is created the way Zoe was and the new vampire feels gratitude to their sire for freeing them of their life as a human. It's rare, but it happens. But I was there when William came to Matt's and told her that vampires eat people, Frank. I'm sure it was compulsion."

"You're sure it was compulsion or you don't want her to be Sired to William?" Frank asked quietly.

Dan's jaw tightened as he stared off into space. "I don't know."

"Is there a way to break a Sire Bond?" Frank asked.

Dan's eyes refocused and he nodded. "You kill one of the vampires involved."

"Well, you're already working towards killing William, so what's the problem?"

"It's not what it takes to break a Bond that I'm worried about. It's what comes after that."

"What happens?" Frank asked.

"You kill the new vampire, the Sire goes insane. But you kill the Sire, then the new vampire loses their humanity."

"You mean – "

"They'd become a soulless, bloodsucking monster." Dan replied gravely.

Frank opened his mouth to ask another question, but a voice from the other side of the room cut him off.

"Dan?"

Dan turned in his seat to look at Zoe, standing in the doorway and trembling slightly. "Hey, Zo. How do you feel?"

"Hungry." Zoe replied, her eyes flickering nervously between Dan and Frank. Immediately, Dan got up and lead her towards the door. "Let's teach you how to hunt humans then, shall we?"


	19. Chapter 19

"Where are we going?" Zoe asked, following Dan as they ran, dodging past humans who didn't even notice that they were there.

"The bad part of town." Dan replied. "It's better hunting ground there."

"Because the blood tastes better?" Zoe asked.

Dan shook his head. "It's where all the people that won't be missed are."

"Oh." Zoe said quietly.

"Come here." Dan said, bringing them both to a stop and wrapping his arms around her. Zoe whimpered softly, burying her face in his jacket, resting her hands on the backs of his shoulders. "I'm scared, Dan. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I know." Dan breathed, closing his eyes as he breathed in the smell of her – that faint, subtle floral scent of her favourite perfume, poorly masking the smell of rabbits and foxes. Although, he supposed that it was only vampires and werewolves that would be able to tell.

Zoe took one last, shuddering breath before she pulled away, tucking her hair behind her ear. Dan touched her chin and she looked up at him, looking into his azure blue eyes as she said softly, "It's going to be okay, Zoe. I promise."

Zoe sighed. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Dan."

"When have I ever broken a promise to you?" Dan asked.

Zoe looked away and he didn't need to be physic to know what she was thinking. He'd promised that she wouldn't be a vampire, but yet here she was, about to search out the one thing that made vampires of every kind and age go crazy with desire.

"I'm sorry." Dan said softly, brushing her hair out of her face. The sound of his voice made her look at him and she gave him as much of a smile as she could muster. "I know."

* * *

"Okay, concentrate." Dan said, crouched on the rooftop beside Zoe. "What can you hear?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Zoe asked him worriedly. "Maybe I should do this with Sky."

The fact that she was even suggesting that bothered him only mildly. "I'll be fine. I did live off human blood once, didn't I?"

"That was a _year ago_, Dan." Zoe said.

"I've only been off human blood for a few weeks." Dan pointed out.

"What – you mean my blood." Zoe said, her features flooding with realisation.

Dan nodded. "Now we've established that I can control myself, can we focus on getting some blood into you?"

Zoe nodded and closed her eyes, stretching out with her senses. She found that she could hear everything within a four-kilometre radius, from the cars on the street to what the old couple down the street were watching on their television.

"Cars." Zoe said lazily, opening her eyes. "Television. Movie theatre's playing the new _X – Men _movie."

Suddenly her posture changed, her muscles tensing as she got ready to pounce, her hawk's eyes staring down eagerly at the alleyway below them as she hissed, "Humans."

Dan turned to look down into the alley, noticing the blonde girl and the tall, dark-haired guy that had just walked into the alley. The girl was dressed skimpily, with a low-cut short black dress, paired with black heels. Her stylishly wavy blonde hair was worn down and she was wearing so much makeup that she could passed for a living, breathing Barbie doll.

Zoe suddenly pounced, easily flinging herself off the rooftop and into the alley. The girl, who was now pressed against the wall and being kissed by her boyfriend, abruptly shoved him away and turned to face Zoe. In an attempt to look like a starving orphan girl, Zoe had ripped holes in her shirt and jeans and she'd dragged a long cut down the side of her face. The cut had healed almost immediately, obviously, but there was a long streak of blood left on her skin from it. She'd become covered in dirt while she'd been climbed around on the roof with Dan and the wind had left her hair tangled.

As the girl and her lover turned to look at her, Zoe cocked her head to the side slightly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Emma." The girl said, stepping forward. Dan realised that she couldn't have been much older than they were – she could only be nineteen at the most. "What's your name?"

"I'm Zoe." Zoe said gently. Dan made a mental note to applaud her on her acting skills – instead of the seventeen-year-old she was, she appeared to be about thirteen, and scared of these new people.

"Where are your parents?" Emma asked, taking a step towards Zoe.

Still keeping up the terrified young girl façade, Zoe took a step back. "I don't have any."

"Well . . . can we get some food?" Emma asked. "You look starved."

Zoe smiled, her eyes growing black as her veins grew darker, snaking across her temples and her neck. Emma gasped and took a step back, but Zoe lunged forward, seizing her by the shoulders and biting down into the girl's soft neck. Emma's boyfriend took off and Dan made a strangled noise of frustration, jumping off the rooftop and tearing off after him. Within seconds, Dan had caught up to him and he grabbed the back of the guy's shirt, pulling him to the ground.

"Please!" The guy cried, rolling over and staring up at Dan with wide, terrified brown eyes. Dan tried to ignore the sound of the guy's heart pounding against his ribcage as he knelt down, staring into the guy's eyes as he said slowly. "Forget that this happened. Go home and get some sleep. It was just a bad dream."

"Just a bad dream." The guy repeated. Dan released him and the guy got up, walking unsteadily down the street. Sighing, Dan walked back to the alley, where Zoe was kneeling down in front Emma, saying something. Emma said something back and Zoe nodded. Emma got up and walked away from Zoe unsteadily in her heels.

Zoe rose and slowly, she looked at Dan as her breathing slowed.

"You compelled her?" Dan asked.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"No. I just thought that it was just the Old Ones, Offspring and Dhampirs that could do that." Dan replied. "Are you okay?"

Zoe nodded. "Yeah, I just . . . surprised, I guess. I'm surprised that I managed to stop myself."


	20. Chapter 20

Zoe sighed happily, stretching out on the bed like a cat as Dan sat on the end of the bed, dragging his fingertips up and down her leg. Zoe shrieked and kicked away from him, grinning as she pulled herself up into sitting position. She'd changed into a pair of shorts and a plain white t-shirt and she'd brushed the tangles from her hair. She looked and felt like herself again, not a monster posing as a scared little girl.

"Are you okay?" Zoe asked quietly, pulling her knees up to her chest and watching him through concerned green eyes.

"I told you, I'm fine. I even had – "

"That's not what I meant." Zoe said, cutting him off.

Dan sighed. "Zoe – "

"I know that wasn't easy for you." Zoe said, leaning forward. "I saw your face."

Dan looked away and Zoe reached out, squeezing his hands tightly. "Dan. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Zoe. I know that, I just . . ."

"Hey." Zoe said softly, moving closer to him and taking his face in her hands. "Look at me. I love you."

Dan rested his forehead against hers, tangling one hand in her auburn hair. He breathed her name as he leaned forward and kissed her, holding her as close as he could get her. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck, pushing her fingers into his hair.

When they broke apart, Zoe looked down as she said, "You know . . . Even though we can't do the vampiric way of making love," she looked up at him nervously, " . . . we can always do the human's way."

Dan brushed Zoe's hair out of her eyes as he leaned over her. "Are you sure?"

Zoe nodded, her hands resting on his shoulders. "I love you."

Dan leaned forward and pressed his mouth against hers, running his hands through her hair. Zoe gasped, placing her hands on Dan's neck as he gently pushed her down into the bed, running his hands up and down her sides as Zoe slid his jacket off his shoulders. Dan sat up and shrugged out of the jacket quickly, pulling his shirt off soon after.

"I love you." Zoe breathed, reaching up to pull him down to her again, her mouth meeting his as the bed beneath her and the room around her disappeared and she was consumed by the feeling of his skin against her own and how she loved him, right to the ends of the earth.

* * *

"You look happy."

"I feel happy." Dan murmured back, opening his eyes a crack and turning his head to the side, to find the bed empty.

"Try again."

Dan looked around, almost immediately noticing Zoe leaning against the doorframe, wearing nothing but her black bra, underwear and a large grey shirt over the top, buttoned up halfway.

Dan frowned at the sight of her. "I have two questions."

Zoe shrugged, smiling. "Ask away."

"One, why are you not in this bed and two, why the _hell _do you have clothes on?"

"I got hungry." Zoe replied. "And I don't _really _have clothes on."

Dan frowned again. "Is that my shirt?"

Zoe bit her lip playfully as she walked towards the bed. "Maybe."

Dan grinned, moving forward and pulling her onto the bed with him. "You should wear my clothes more often."

Zoe grinned, reaching up to kiss him. When they pulled apart, Zoe stretched, leaning back against him as Dan wrapped his arm around her waist. "Can we stay here forever?"

"I would love to, but we kind of can't." Dan said reluctantly.

Zoe twisted her head so she could see his face. "Why?"

"It's a full moon tonight." Dan said, tracing a pattern on her hip through the thin material of his shirt.

Zoe sighed. "Tom's first Change. This is going to be a long day."

* * *

Aneisha gave Tom a pained glance and said, to no one in particular, "Please tell me something happy. I need a dose of happy."

"Dan and I had sex last night." Zoe told her, unable to hide her grin.

Aneisha turned her head towards the auburn-haired girl. "That's not funny, Zo."

Zoe's jaw dropped. "It's true! Fine. Read my mind if you don't believe me."

Aneisha sighed, but she closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt Zoe's aura pressing against the edges of her mind and, taking a deep breath, she delved further so that she could 'see' Zoe's current thought process. She was immediately swept up into a memory, a memory of the night before. She watched through Zoe's eyes as Dan, a small smile playing on his mouth, bent his head and pressed a kiss to Zoe's stomach as Zoe reached behind her, curling her fingers around the bedhead.

"Okay, I'm not watching anymore." Aneisha said, pulling out of Zoe's head and squeezing her eyes shut. "God. I now need to sanitise my brain."

"And why is that?" Tom's voice asked.

Aneisha opened her eyes, giving him a small smile. She immediately noticed that he was shirtless and that, it was a really good look on him. "Because it was horrid."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Tom countered, still smiling.

"You_ cannot_ unsee what I just saw." Aneisha said.

"Well," Tom said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him. "Maybe we'll just make some 'un-see able' memories of our own."

Aneisha smiled up at him, placing her hand on the back of his neck. "Maybe we will."

As she pulled him down to kiss him, Dan moved to stand beside Zoe, an amused smile playing on his mouth. "What _exactly _did you show her?"

Zoe leaned her head back and gave him a cheeky smile. "Nothing too graphic. Just so she got the idea."

Dan grinned, shaking his head. "Oh, Zo. I – "

Before he could finish his sentence, he caught sight of Tom, pulling away from Aneisha and looking around frantically. Worried, Aneisha placed her hand gently on his arm, her thumb gliding across his skin. "Tom?" What's wrong?"

"The full moon." Tom breathed. "It's coming."


	21. Chapter 21

Tom backed up into the middle of the clearing as his brown eyes darted nervously, his chest heaving in anticipation of the rising moon. He threw a glance towards the two girls standing close together as Dan walked towards him. "They should go."

Dan turned. "He's right. This isn't going to be pretty."

Aneisha shook her head and stalked towards Tom, taking his face in her hands. "I'm staying, okay? Not matter how ugly it is."

Tom gave her a grateful smile and kissed her gently. "I love you."

Dan turned to Zoe, his blue eyes pleading. "Please tell me you're going. You don't want to see this."

"Not a chance." Zoe said, hugging him tightly. "Someone needs to be able to make sure that Neish doesn't get herself into trouble."

Dan sighed, dropping his head onto her shoulder and squeezing his eyes shut. "I really hate how smart you are sometimes."

"I love you." Zoe breathed, tightening her hold on Dan's neck and burying her face in his chest. She felt Dan's lips in her hair as he murmured back a reply, his fingers gently massaging the back of her neck. Zoe pulled back from his embrace a little, her green eyes suddenly very wide and childlike.

"What?" Dan asked.

"Can you do me a favour?" Zoe asked softly, staring up into his blue eyes. "Try not to get bitten."

Dan gave her a small smile, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "I've done this before, remember? And look, I'm still here."

Feeling stupid, Zoe looked at her feet. Dan tucked her hair behind her ear and touched her chin, making her look at him. Then he pressed his mouth against her's, cupping her cheek as she pushed herself closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling her fingers in his hair.

Abruptly, they both pulled away as a loud scream ripped through the air, followed by the sound of bones cracking, echoing through the forest around them. They turned to find Tom crouched on the ground, screaming, with Aneisha kneeling down beside him, pushing his dark hair off his forehead.

"What's happening?" Zoe asked in panic as Dan stalked towards Tom.

"It's starting." Tom managed to choke out, before the sound of his voice was lost in the sound of bones breaking.

"Tom . . ." Aneisha whimpered as Dan placed his hand on Tom's shoulder and the Changing werewolf screamed.

"Neish, go." Tom moaned, painfully reaching out with one hand to push her away. Her eyes thick with tears, Aneisha shook her head. "No. I'm staying. I'm staying."

"Zoe, get her back." Dan said. "_Now_."

Zoe nodded and moved towards Aneisha, pulling her to her feet and dragging her backwards. Naturally, Aneisha fought, elbowing Zoe in the stomach, biting, kicking, but it had no effect on the vampire. Aneisha even tried to use her powers to impale Zoe on a tree, but her emotions were swirling too wildly within her and she couldn't get a hold on them.

"Shh." Zoe whispered. "This isn't helping. Just relax."

Even without compulsion, Zoe's words had a calming effect on the darker-skinned girl, and she stopped fighting.

"I can't help him. I can't stop his pain." Aneisha cried.

"Yes, you can." Zoe replied, the grip on her friend's arms loosening. "Use your power. Try to take some of his pain away."

Aneisha looked at Tom, who was gritting his teeth as his arm bent at an odd angle and Dan tried his best to soothe him. Taking a deep breath, Aneisha stretched her arm out towards Tom and closed her eyes. Now that she was calm and focused, she could touch her powers again and she pushed as much of it as she could towards Tom. She watched as the tension drained from Tom's body and he looked around, confused, as the pain in every part of his body faded to a kind of numbed stinging that thrummed through his muscles. He held one hand up curiously, watching as his fingers all bent at odd angles. "What's happening?"

Dan rocked back on his heels and looked over at Zoe and Aneisha, both standing close together. Aneisha was slowly lowering her hand and Dan felt a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth. "Your girlfriend, Warrior."

Gasping, Tom raised his head and his gaze met Aneisha's as he gave her a small smile. Before he could even say anything, his eyes flashed silver and there was a flash of light, so bright that Aneisha had to squeeze her eyes shut and bury her face in Zoe's shoulder. Zoe and Dan's vampiric eyesight immediately adjusted, but Dan got to his feet and took a few steps backwards.

When the light disappeared, Tom was gone and in his place stood a large wolf, its shoulder as high as Dan's waist. It was covered in dark brown – almost black – fur and it had strangely human-looking eyes that glittered with intelligence and emotion.

Blinking against the black spots that danced across her vision, Aneisha turned towards Tom, taking in his intelligent eyes, his dark fur, his new form.

"Tom . . ." She breathed, pushing away from Zoe. This time, the redhead let her go, watching as Aneisha stumbled a few steps forward before she suddenly stopped, watching the wolf sadly. As if on cue, Tom padded forward and pushed his nose into Aneisha's palm, whining softly. Aneisha smiled gently and knelt down, pushing her fingers through his fur. Tom's silver eyes fixed on her's as she ruffled his ears. She smiled as she watched his eyes drift shut and when he opened them again, they were the same deep brown she loved.

Zoe looked from Tom and Aneisha to Dan, who reached out for her with one hand. Smiling, Zoe walked towards him until she was close enough that he could wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head through her hair.

"See? I told you I'd be okay." Dan breathed in her ear, his hand running up and down Zoe's side.

Zoe turned to look at him, the corners of her mouth quirking up into her smile. "I knew you would. I trust you to take care of yourself. I just . . . worry, that's all."

Dan smiled as her shirt followed his hand as it continued to move up and down her side, his hand brushing against her bare skin. Zoe made a small noise and squeezed her eyes shut, resting her head against his neck. "Dan . . ."

"Hmm?" Dan asked, wrapping both arms around her waist and pressing his nose against her shoulder.

"If you keep touching me like that, I'm going to have issues waiting until we get home to start ripping your clothes off."

Dan sighed, but he let her shirt fall back into place so that it separated his hands from her skin. He took a deep breath as he dropped his head onto her shoulder. "Damn you, Zo."

Zoe heard Aneisha laughing and she looked at her friend and grinned, seeing Tom lying across her lap.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey guys! Just a quick note - you know 'How to Save a Life'? Well, I've decided to put it up for adoption. So, if you want to write that story, give me a buzz. For now, enjoy! **

* * *

Aneisha smiled as she turned her attention from Dan and Zoe, to Tom, who whined softly and closed his eyes in content as she scratched behind his ears. She watched him curiously as he got up, walked a few metres away from her and sat down, looking up at the sky.

Confused, Aneisha turned to Dan and Zoe, the redhead still wrapped in his embrace. "Uh . . . What the hell is he doing?"

"Relax, Neish." Dan said. "Soon it'll be time for him to change back. He's trying to see if it's time."

Aneisha nodded, watching as Tom got up and trotted off into the trees. Aneisha flinched at the sound of bones cracking, but she relaxed when Tom yelled, "Can someone pass me my clothes, please?"

Zoe laughed as Dan picked up the spare clothes hanging from a low tree branch and threw them into trees. A minute later, Tom emerged back in human form, barefoot and shrugging on a shirt.

"Tom!" Aneisha cried, launching herself at him. Tom grunted and staggered backwards as her body collided with his, more focused on keeping his arms around her than he was with keeping himself upright. Somehow, he managed to keep his arms around her and remain upright. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, brushing her dark hair away from her face.

"I'm fine. I'm okay." Tom whispered into her hair, his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

"I was so scared." Aneisha whimpered. "When you started screaming, I was so scared that – "

"I'm fine." Tom repeated, pressing his forehead against hers.

"What was it like?" Zoe asked.

Tom turned to look at her, once again wrapped in Dan's arms, and smiled. "It's . . . weird. I feel weird, like this isn't my body. "

Zoe smiled broadly at him, as if she were welcoming him to some secret, exclusive club. "Welcome to life of a supernatural creature."

"I already _was _a supernatural creature." Tom pointed out.

"Being the Warrior's different." Dan said, sounding distracted as his eyes darted around the clearing.

"Dan?" Zoe asked, twisting her head to look up at him. "What's wrong?"

"There's someone here." Dan said. "Someone who's not meant to be here."

"William?" Aneisha asked. Dan felt a shudder run down Zoe's spine at the mention of her sire and Dan placed a hand on her back. "No, it's not William. I can smell one human and one werewolf – other than Tom."

Suddenly Sky was in the clearing with them, her brown hair knotted and her big brown eyes bored. "Cuz, your _best friend _and his boyfriend are here to see you."

A snarling noise ripped through the clearing and Aneisha yelped, stumbling backwards as Tom suddenly changed into a large wolf. Sky grinned at him appreciatively, earning her a glare from Aneisha as she said, "Whoa. Cool."

Suddenly two boys – one with chestnut brown hair and the other with a shock of black hair – burst into the clearing. Dan remained in his current spot – his arms wrapped tightly around Zoe from behind – but his whole was rigid against her as his wary blue eyes followed the werewolf's movements.

Breathless, Matt turned to Tom, who was crouched in front of Aneisha, his teeth bared as he snarled at Matt.

"Matt . . ." Logan said, his eyes flickering nervously between Tom, Aneisha, Sky and Dan. "Let's just go."

"Yeah, just wait a minute . . ."

Aneisha hissed through her teeth and made a flicking motion with her hand. Immediately, Matt was slammed up against a tree and he groaned as Aneisha said, "I think it's time for you to go."

"I think it's time for me to go too." Matt croaked. Aneisha nodded and suddenly he dropped to the ground, coughing as Logan dropped to his knees beside him, throwing Aneisha a cold look as he helped Matt to his feet and together, the two boys stumbled out of the clearing. Dan immediately relaxed, letting his head fall forward to rest against Zoe's shoulder as Tom changed back into human form, looking down at his clothed body in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked, reaching behind her and intertwining her fingers with Dan's.

Tom looked up at her. "Why do I have clothes on?"

Aneisha burst out laughing and Sky grinned as Dan muttered against Zoe's shoulder, "It's only your first Change that you change back naked. I don't know why."

* * *

Aneisha sighed, running her hands through her hair as she leaned back against the head of her bed.

"What's with you?" Tom asked, a small smile dancing across his features as he watched her.

"There's a whole load of stu . . . Oh, my God, I'm an idiot." Aneisha groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

"No, you're not." Tom said, sitting down on the bed with her. "Come on, what's wrong?"

"My dad. If my mum was the Sorceress, my dad was her Warrior. I have a whole load of stuff that isn't here – including the stuff that tells me how to create the fire to kill William. I need to talk to my dad." She declared, getting up. Smirking playfully, Tom grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. Aneisha shrieked in surprise as Tom leaned her over and pressed his mouth to her's, his arms circling around her waist. Aneisha gasped as he rolled so she was lying on top of him, tangling her fingers in his hair.

Finally, they pulled apart, Aneisha resting her head against the crook of his neck before she sat up, pushing her dark hair out of her face as she looked down at him. "So are we going to go talk to my dad or are we just going to make out all day?"

"'d rather make out all day." Tom replied, his thumb moving lightly across her hip. Aneisha laughed and leaned down to kiss him quickly, pulling away before he could pull her down again.

"Come on." Aneisha said, shoving his shoulder and climbing off. Tom sighed, but he reluctantly climbed off the bed and followed her.


End file.
